April 19, 2011
USCIS announced that as of April 15, 2011, approximately 7,100 H-1B cap-subject petitions have been receipted. Additionally, USCIS had receipted 5,100 H-1B petitions for aliens with advanced degrees. USCIS will continue to accept H-1B petitions subject to the Fiscal Year 2012 (October 2011 to September 2012) cap. All H-1B cap cases filed through this date have been accepted and counted against the H-1B quota. This does not mean that the filings have been approved, but just that they have not been subject to an H cap lottery.
For regular cap petitions there is an annual quota of 58,200 H-1B slots per fiscal year. For advanced degree H-1B petitions, there is an additional annual quota of 20,000 slots per year. There are also approximately 7,000 slots set aside for nationals of Chile and Singapore. USCIS has indicated that on the day it determines that sufficient regular H cap petitions have been received to meet the Fiscal Year 2012 quota, it will conduct a computerized random selection lottery from among the petitions received on that day.
