On November 27, 2009, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that 58,900 H-1B petitions out of the regular quota of 65,000 have been received since April 1, 2009. The special quota of 20,000 for foreign nationals with U.S. master’s degrees was exhausted earlier in the year. This 58,900 number already exceeds 58,200, the quota for regular H-1Bs after subtracting the 6,800 H-1B1 numbers which are reserved solely for nationals of Chile and Singapore pursuant to free trade agreements.

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