USCIS Updates H-1B Cap Count – April 9, 2012

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) provided a ‘cap count’ for its Fiscal Year 2013 H-1B.  These are new H1B applications filed on or after April 1, 2012 for a start date of October 1, 2012.

The H-1B cap is set at 65,000 and the Advanced Degree cap is set at 20,000.

As of April 9, 2012, the Service had received:

• Regular H-1B Cap:  17,400
• U.S. Masters H-1B Cap: 8,200

To compare these numbers with prior years:

In 2011, the numbers dipped significantly.  By April 10, 2011:

• Regular H-1B Cap: 5,900
• U.S. Masters H-1B Cap: 4,500

To illustrate what an anomaly last year was, on April 8, 2010, the USCIS reported:

• Regular H-1B Cap:  13,500
• U.S. Masters H-1B Cap: 5,600

And for further perspective, see how long it took to reach the cap in previous years:

• Fiscal Year 2012: cap was reached November 22, 2011
• Fiscal Year 2011: cap was reached January 26, 2011
• Fiscal Year 2010: cap was reached December 21, 2009
• Fiscal Year 2009: cap was reached April 7, 2008 (190,000 total applications were received in one week, USCIS conducted a lottery)
• Fiscal Year 2008: cap was reached April 3, 2007 (150,000 applications were received in 3 days, USCIS conducted a lottery)
• Fiscal Year 2007: cap was reached May 26, 2006

Obviously, there is an ‘uptick’ in H1B activity this year. It’s nowhere near where it was in ’07 and ’08, but still, we predict that the 2013 cap will reached within the next two (2) months.

This means you need to get your application filed ASAP!

We will provide updates on www.bashyamspiro.com.