Advanced Degree Cap : Over Half Gone
Posted Jun 30, 2006
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According to the latest release by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), over half of Fiscal Year (FY) 2007's allotment of 20,000 advanced degree cap exemptions have been used or requested. As of June 23, 2006, the USCIS count indicated that 11,918 advanced degree cases had been filed and receipted. Separate from this group of cases, the USCIS has identified another 800 cases requesting the advanced degree exemption. These cases have been received by the USCIS, but have not yet been entered and receipted. Thus, the two groups of cases total 12,718 of the permitted 20,000. 
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Unlike other recent cap counts, there is no reference to cases that have been received, but not sorted. It is unclear if this information has been omitted or if the sorting was complete at the time of the announcement.
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Thus, it appears that more than half of the advanced degree exemptions have been utilized. The figure is rapidly approaching the two-thirds mark. As has been reported before, the pool of eligible applicants includes those individuals who graduated in May or June 2006, whose employers would be filing shortly after graduation. Anyone contemplating filing a case and requesting an advanced degree exemption, however, should act quickly, before the remaining numbers disappear.