Immigration law is similar to tax law: both require year end planning. With business starting to pick up in many sectors, employers are now slowly beginning to hire again. Because many of the skill sets that U.S. employers need cannot be found in the U.S. workforce filings of H-1B petitions have been on the rise. In fact, as of December 4, 2009, USCIS reported that it had approved sufficient H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees to meet the exemption of 20,000 from the fiscal year 2010 cap. Any H-1B petitions filed on behalf of an alien with an advanced degree will now count toward the general H-1B cap of 65,000.

 A word of caution: 61,000 numbers from that 65,000 cap have already been used up and time is running out to file new H-1B cap subject petitions. Like the Cadbury Easter egg, once the H-1B numbers are gone they are gone until the next season. Thus, when that magic cap of 65,000 has been reached prospective H-1B workers and H-1B employers will not be able to hire cap subject H-1B workers (or at least those who do not already hold H-1B status) until the next H-1B season, October 1, 2010, and will not be able to file for such workers until 6 months before, April 1, 2010. So, get your H-1B petitions filed before the H-1B numbers are gobbled up!