U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally mandated cap for fiscal year 2009, both in the general category (65,000) and under the "advanced degree" exemption (20,000).
On April 3, 2008, USCIS announced an important rule change granting many students a total of 29 months of post-secondary practical training and extending the status and work authorization for those on F-1 optional practical training who have H-1B start dates of October 1.
On April 4, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security published an interim final rule extending the period of optional practical training (OPT) from 12 to 29 months.