The United States government will start accepting petitions for the H—1B visas, the most sought after work visa for Indian IT professionals, from April 1, an official release said.
The congressionally mandated cap on H-1B visas for the fiscal year 2016 beginning October 1, 2015 remains 65,000.
The first 20,000 H-1B petitions filed for individuals with a US master’s degree or higher are exempt from the 65,000 cap.
In a statement, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it expects to receive more petitions than the H-1B cap during the first five business days of this year’s program.
As such it will monitor the number of petitions received and notify the public when the H-1B cap has been met.
If USCIS receives an excess of petitions during the first five business days, the agency will use a lottery system to randomly select the number of petitions required to meet the cap, the media statement said.
Successful H—1B applicants were determined through a lottery system last year.