From the ISSS-BU News Update for 09 April 2007
Latest News on H-1B Cap Filings
On Wednesday morning April 4, ISSS-BU News published an update announcing that US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had received enough H-1B petitions as of Monday, April 2, 2007 to meet the mandated cap for Fiscal Year 2008, which begins October 1, 2007. USCIS reported that it had received more than 150,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions by Monday afternoon.
In keeping with its regulations, when the cap limit is reached on the first day of filing, a computer-generated random selection process applies, including cases filed on the "final receipt date" and the following date, which is April 3, 2007. Any cap-subject H-1B applications received on or after April 4, 2007 will be rejected.
The complete USCIS statement can be viewed at:
http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/H1BFY08Cap040307.pdf
On Thursday, April 5, USCIS published its first preliminary numbers as the tallying of petitions received on April 2 and April 3 continues. USCIS reported that a closer examination of the petitions shows that it received 133,000 unique pieces of mail containing H-1B petitions, rather than the 150,000 it announced on April 4.
The task now turns to individually reviewing and sorting each petition. As of April 3, USCIS reports that 28, 052 of the cases sorted thus far subject to the Fiscal Year 2008 cap. 4,703 cases sorted thus far are for applicants who have a US master's degree or higher from a US institution, which fall under a separate grouping of 20,000 who are exempt from the Fiscal Year 2008 cap.
To read the April 5 USCIS announcement of preliminary numbers, visit:
http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/H1Bfy08CapUpdate040507.pdf