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.

저런 상황이기를 바라는 사람중 한명입니다만, 객관적으로 말이 안되는게…
4/14까지 last할 꺼라는 구체적인 날짜는 어떻게 계산된 것이며,
오늘(4/1) 하루동안 접수된 페티션의 구체적인 수치를 모르는 상태에서
졸업생 수가 작년대비 별반 다르지 않고, 경기 안좋다는 걸 이유로 4/14까지 쿼타 남을거다…라는 건 억지 예측 같구요,
글이 끄트머리로 갈수록 광고글 냄새가 심하게 납니다.

작년에 석사 ABD상태에서 학사로 넣었다가 떨어진 사람들이 올해는 석사로 넣기때문에 많이 늘어날거라고 중국애들이 그럽디다.
사실 2만이라는 숫자는 그리 많은 숫자가 아니기 때문에 후유에서 간과해서는 않될것이 작년의 경우 첫날 접수된 석사 cap이상 지원자의 수가 1만4천정도 였다는 것입니다. 첫날에 70% 정도가 찾는데 나머지는 3월말~4월초에 오퍼를 받은 경우이죠.