December 9 2004

Legislation signed by President Bush contains provisions affecting the H-1B category. The Act provides a new exemption from the congressionally mandated annual H-1B cap of 65,000. Under the Act, 20,000 U.S.university Master's and Ph.D. graduates will not count towards the cap.

Importantly, the Act will allow the USCIS to accept new petitions on behalf of 20,000 beneficiaries with U.S.university Master's and Ph.D's, for fiscal year 2005. All 65,000 visas were used up on the first day of the 2005 fiscal year. This provision should free up an additional 20,000 H-1B visas. The provision will not be effective until March 8, 2005.

The Act also adds further filing fess for H-1B petitions. For companies with 25 full-time employees or less, the companies must pay $750 on top of the base processing fee of $185. For companies with more then 25 full-time employees, they must pay $1500 on top of the base processing fee of $185. All companies regardless of size must also pay a new Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee of $500.