WASHINGTON D.C. -- Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced Jan. 7, that it has received a sufficient number of petitions to reach the congressionally mandated H-2B cap for the second half of Fiscal Year 2009.

USCIS notified the public that January 7, 2009 was the "final receipt date" for new H-2B worker petitions requesting employment start dates prior to October 1, 2009. The "final receipt date" is the date on which USCIS determines that it has received enough cap-subject petitions to reach the limit of 33,000 H-2B workers for the second half of FY2009.

The cap was reached with existing totals for that day. USCIS will reject petitions for new H-2B workers seeking employment start dates prior to October 1, 2009 that arrive after January 7, 2009.

USCIS will apply a computer-generated random selection process to all petitions which are subject to the cap and were received on January 7, 2009. USCIS will use this process to select the number of petitions needed to meet the cap. USCIS will reject, and return the fee, for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected.

Petitions for workers who are currently in H-2B status do not count towards the congressionally mandated bi-annual H-2B cap. USCIS will continue to process petitions filed to: