Increase in Number of H-1B Cap Filings
On April 23, 2012, USCIS announced that as of April 20, 2012, it had received 25,000 H-1B visa petitions under the regular H-1B cap visa category (65,000 per year limit). This is an increase of more than 35% compared to the previous week, so that in this past week 4,400 petitions were filed compared to 3,200 petitions filed the previous week. The number of petitions filed towards the U.S. Master’s degree category (20,000 per year limit) was slightly less in that 1,200 petitions were filed this past week compared to 1,500 the previous week, so that the total now has reached 10,900. If the number of petitions filed continue at this rate, the Master’s cap could be reached within 2 months (perhaps 7 weeks); whereas the Regular cap could be reached now much earlier, i.e. soon after the Master’s cap - so perhaps as early as the end of June 2012.