June 17, 2004 - Immigration Flash News Alert H-1B Usage for Fiscal Year 2005   As you all are probably aware, there is an annual cap of 65,000 H visas issued by the US Department of Homeland Security.  The cap begins at the beginning of the fiscal year, which is October 1, 2004 until September 30, 2005.  Already there have been approximately 16,000 H-1B visas counted against this cap. This means that in only a two month period 25% of the H visas available for an entire year have been utilized.  If the H visas continue to be requested and issued at this same rate, then the FY 2005 cap will be reached as early as November 2004.   In order to avoid missing out on obtaining an H visa for your vital employee and to avoid an interruption in business, we advise all clients to file as early as possible to avoid missing these visas. Please keep in mind that there may be more than the 16,000 petitions awaiting adjudication and applicants wanting an H visa should not delay in applying.   Please contact our office for further information!   Please see the following link to the USCIS web site: http://uscis.gov If you have any comments on our newsletter, any topics you would like to see reviewed or if you have news, events or other items of interest that you would like to share - please forward your comments and suggestions to abouley@goffandwilson.com. Copyright 2003 Goff and Wilson Professional Association - www.goffandwilson.com - unsubscribe One Capitol St., PO Box 347, Concord, NH 03302-0347 v: 603.228.1277    f: 603.226.0791    info@goffandwilson.com