What is H1B Visa Cap: Regular vs. Masters Quota? Cap-Exempt? (2025)

If you are new to the H1B visa process, you may come across the term “H1B Cap”. Some of you may wonder, what it means, how it is determined, what is regular cap vs. masters cap, how they are set and calculated, what is Singapore and Chile’s H1B cap, and many such questions. In this article, we cover all those details and look at FAQs as well.

What is H1B Visa Cap? Meaning?

In general, “Cap” can mean multiple things like a hat someone wears, a protective lid, or an upper limit. The context of using a cap determines its exact meaning of it. In the context of H1B visas, H1B Cap is the annual limit set by the US Congress for H1B Visas. The H1B cap is the maximum number of H1B visas that USCIS can issue in a fiscal year, as per Congress.

There are three types of H1B caps: Regular cap, US Masters cap, and Singapore-Chile cap. Let’s look at each of them in detail.

What is the H1B Regular Cap? Who Qualifies for it?

The H1B Regular cap or H1B Regular quota is the annual limit set for H1B petitions filed under the regular quota. H1B regular quota filing petitions are the ones that generally meet all the requirements of an H1B visa. The key difference is that there is no requirement to have a US Masters’s degree to be counted in the regular cap.

Usually, all the general H1B requirements, such as a bachelor’s degree, or a job falling in specialized skills apply here. In some cases, if there is no bachelor’s, but the candidate has a lot of experience, each year of education can be equated with 3 years of experience.

H1B Regular Cap Count?

US Congress has set an annual limit of 65,000 for the H1B regular cap. What it means is that USCIS can issue up to 65,000 H1-B visas in a fiscal year. One key thing to note is that this count of 65,000 also includes 6,800 petitions set aside for Chile-Singapore under the free trade agreement and called as H1-B1 program. We will review this in a later section.

What is the H1B Masters Cap? What Advanced Degree?

The H1B Masters cap or H1B Masters’s quota cap is the annual limit that is set by US Congress to file an H1B petition under the US Masters quota or Advanced Degree Quota. To file under the H1B Masters quota or advanced degree quota, the applicant needs to have an Advanced Degree like master’s or a higher degree such as a Ph.D. from a US University. You can only file under the advanced degree exemption if you have a Master’s degree or higher from a US University.

Also, anyone who has obtained an Associate or Bachelor’s degree from a US university does NOT qualify for this cap. Similarly, a person who has obtained a foreign (i.e. non-US) Master’s degree or higher also does NOT qualify for this.

H1B Masters or Advanced Degree Cap Count?

US Congress has set an annual limit of 20,000 per fiscal year for the US Masters Cap or Advanced Degree cap. What it means is that USCIS can only issue up to 20,000 H1B Visas for applicants who filed under the US Masters quota.

There are no changes to the cap count for H1B FY 2025 season. There were some discussions done in the past as part of Obama Immigration Reform to increase H1B cap to 110,000, but nothing went far enough to become a law.

You may also watch YouTube Video on H1B Cap – Regular vs. Masters for more details.

H1B1 – Singapore – Chile Cap? Free Trade Agreement

As per US Congress, under the H1B Regular cap, there are 6,800 H1B Visa slots set aside from the regular quota cap for Singapore and Chile Countries under their Free Trade Agreement. It is usually called the H1B1 Cap. This annual cap is 6,800, and the number is taken out from Regular Cap. Basically, it means that the effective regular cap petitions quota left after this is 65,000 – 6,800 = 58,200.

The important thing to note is that any unused H1B1 slots from the previous year would be added to the H1B Regular cap for the next fiscal year. In general, the H1B1 quota is heavily underutilized and a majority of the H1B1 Slots are added back to the regular quota. Let’s look at how it is calculated.

How is H1B Regular Cap Calculated? Less than 65K?

Below is the equation that represents how to get the total count for the regular quota cap:

• Let’s say the Current fiscal year Regular Cap quota = XXXX
• Let’s say Singapore – Chile Free Trade agreement Petitions (H1-B1 Cap) filed in the previous Fiscal Year = YYYY
• H1B Regular Cap for XXXX = Annual Cap for XXXX (i.e. 65,000) – H-1B1 Cap for XXXX (i.e. 6,800) + Unused H-1B1 numbers from Previous year YYYY + Additional petitions accepted by USCIS as Buffer for denials, rejections, etc.

Important Notes:

1. The unused H1B1 petitions for the previous year are first added to the cap and consumed. So when USCIS publishes a cap count of X number, that number already includes the unused H-1B1 number of the previous year. For an official statement on this, look at the secondquestion at this USCIS link. The H-1B1 category is heavily under-utilized. As evident from the old FY-09 number, only 700 petitions were used (which means 6,100 petitions were added to the FY-10 cap). [FY-09 was the year quota got over within first few days, and this shows the low demand for H-1B1 even when there was a huge demand for H-1B]
2. USCIS has historically accepted more H-1B petitions than available cap numbers based on the assumption that some petitions will be denied, rejected or withdrawn. USCIS selects about 12% to 15% more than the annual cap to account for denials, withdrawals, etc. You can check H1B Cap Count History for last 10 years to get an idea.
3. The count of petitions for the current fiscal year only includes petitions that reached USCIS prior to final receipt date (if already declared) and which are either pending processing or have been approved. It doesn’t include any petitions that have already been denied, rejected or withdrawn on the cap publication date.

What are H1B Cap-Exempt Petitions?

H1B cap-exempt petitions are the ones that can be filed without going through the annual H1B cap of 85,000 as defined by Congress. They broadly fall under two categories as listed below:

1. Applicants who previously filed H1B Petitions

In general, when an applicant would like to work on H1B in the US, they need to submit an H1B registration and may need to go through H1B Lottery Process to file an H1B petition. If they were selected and chose to file the H1B petition, then they are said to be counted under the H1B cap. It means they were technically counted under the 85,000 annual limit set by congress.

Once an applicant is counted under the H1B cap in a year, they do not have to go through the H1B cap or the H1B lottery again. All such H1B petition filings are called H1B cap-exempt petitions. Below are the common types of H1B cap-exempt petitions:

• H1B Extensions to extend the amount of time a current H1B worker may remain in the US
• H1B Amendment to change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers
• H1B Transfers to allow current H-1B workers to change employers
• Concurrent H1B to allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position

2. Applicants filing with H1B Cap Exempt Sponsors

USCIS has given separate provisions for certain H1B Sponsors or Employers like non-profit universities and non-profit research organizations. If they want to hire an H1B worker, these employers do not have to go through the annual H1B cap quota. It means that there is no limit on the number of H1B applicants or Lottery concept if the applicant is going to work for the below-listed type of entities :

• Non-profit universities
• Non-profit research
• US Govt. research organizations
• Non-profits related to higher education.

All the above-listed categories of H1B petitions can be filed anytime during the year and are not subject to April 1 filing date and October 1 start dates.

Common FAQs

What do you think of the H1B cap? Add your thoughts in the comments section below.