The H-1B cap opened on April 1. Any H-1B cap-subject petition that isreceived on or before April 5 is considered a first day filing. It is unknown at this time whether the H-1Bcap will be reached on the first day or not. In a March15, 2013 press release the USCIS predicted that,
Based on feedback froma number of stakeholders, USCIS anticipates that it may receive more petitionsthan the H-1B cap between April 1, 2013 and April 5, 2013.
If the USCIS receives more petitions than it is statutorily allowedto approve it will commence an H-1B lottery. Any H-1B petition that does not “win” the lottery will be returned tothe employer.
This begs the question of whether the H-1B cap will in factbe reached by April 5. MU Law had itsbusiest week, filing more H-1B cap-subject petitions than it ever has. This leads us to believe that the H-1B capwill be reached by April 5.
ILW.com’s Roger Algase had an interestingreport yesterday. He says that aFedEx representative told him that their delivery service sent 23,000 to theVermont Service Center on Monday April 1. If this report is true then the H-1B cap surely will be reached by April5. FedEx is one of three major UScourier services. The Vermont ServiceCenter is one of two receiving facilities for H-1B cap-subject petitions. April 1 is just one of the five days thatH-1B cap-subject petitions will be received.
Traditionally the USCIS announces when the H-1B cap is reachedwithin 72 hours of the 65,000th H-1B cap-subject petitionfiling. Based on all of the data, MU Law’sexpectation is that the USCIS will make an announcement sometime next week thatthe H-1B cap was indeed reached on April 5.