Four numbers run this unit: 65,000, 20,000, 85,000 and 66,000. Each one is the wrong answer to at least one of the others' questions, which is exactly why they are tested together.
H-1B
- The regular annual H-1B cap set by Congress is 65,000.
- An additional 20,000 petitions are exempt for beneficiaries who earned a master's degree or higher from a U.S. institution.
- The maximum number of new cap-subject beneficiaries in a fiscal year is therefore 65,000 + 20,000 = 85,000.
The 85,000 total is the combined figure, never the regular cap. Answering 65,000 to the combined question omits the advanced-degree exemption; answering 85,000 to the regular-cap question adds the exemption in where it does not belong.
H-2B
- The statutory H-2B cap is 66,000 per fiscal year.
- It is split 33,000 for workers beginning employment in the first half of the fiscal year and 33,000 for the second half, not released first-come first-served across the year.
The pairings people miss
- 66,000 is H-2B, not H-1B. It sits one digit away from the 65,000 H-1B regular cap and is the single most missed pairing here.
- 33,000 is half of the H-2B cap, so it is never the whole annual figure and never an H-1B number.
- 20,000 is the H-1B advanced-degree exemption. 10,000 is not a figure USCIS uses for it.
- 105,000 does not exist in the cap structure; it double-counts.
Carry this in: 65 plus 20 makes 85 for H-1B, and 33 plus 33 makes 66 for H-2B.