USCIS began accepting H-1B petitions for the 2009 fiscal year on April 1, 2008. If the H-1B quota is reached at any time during the first five business days (4/1-4/7) on which petitions for the upcoming fiscal year may be received, all cap-subject petitions received during the first five business days will be included in the random-selection lottery. This rule applies to both the 65,000-visa standard quota and the 20,000-visa advanced degree quota.

If the 20,000 advanced degree quota is filled during the first five business days, USCIS will randomly select from those petitions ahead of conducting the random selection for the 65,000 quota. Petitions subject to the 20,000 limit that are not selected in that random selection will be considered with the other H-1B petitions in the random selection for the 65,000 limit. That means that petitions subject to the 20,000 limit will have two chances to enter the lottery system.

Last year, the 65,000 standard H-1B numbers ran out on the first day (4/2) USCIS started to accept petitions. Based on our observations, we expect the 65,000 standard H-1B numbers to run out during the first five business days (4/1-4/7). However, we are fairly optimistic about the situation for the 20,000 advanced degree quota. Last year, this quota was filled on April 30. This year, we estimate it won’t be filled within two weeks for the following reasons:

(1) Last year, the quota was filled on April 30. That means there were 30 days for aliens with advanced degrees to submit their applications. Therefore, most qualified aliens would have submitted their applications during that period of time. There were not many applicants who could not submit their applications and had to wait until this year.

(2) There has been no big change in the number of advanced degree graduates in the U.S. The number of advanced degree programs in the U.S. is very stable. There won’t be a surge in the number of graduates from these programs, so there probably won’t be a surge in the number of advanced degree applicants.

(3) The American economy is experiencing slow economic growth. There is no reason to see a hike of new hires of aliens in the job market. On the contrary, we have seen a big wave of layoffs. For example, Dell announced on March 31 that it would close its computer factory in Austin and lay off 8,300 employees. Therefore, we don’t expect to see a big increase of applications for the advanced degree H-1B cap.

In the past several weeks, the attorneys and supporting staff at Zhang & Associates have been working diligently to prepare our clients’ H-1B cases. As of April 1, we have filed to USCIS almost all the H-1B cases subject to the 2009 fiscal year H-1B quota.

Zhang & Associates’ attorneys have always maintained high standards in our commitment to serve our clients. We have double checked all the cases to make sure there are no problems, and USCIS will receive them on time.

There is still plenty of time for aliens to apply for the H-1B quota, especially for the advanced degree quota. We are still accepting new H-1B cases in the next two weeks. At this special time, we guarantee that we will file your case within two days of receiving all the necessary documents. We will work at full capacity to help our clients file their cases before the deadline.

If you plan to file an H-1B case, please contact Attorney Jerry Zhang at @hooyou.com">info@hooyou.com.