On April 12, 2018, USCIS announced that it had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutorily mandated 65,000 regular cap, and the 20,000 master’s cap petitions, thus using the entire available cap quota for FY 2019.
The total number of H-1B petitions received between April 2 and April 6 was 190,098. While it is of little surprise that this year’s cap was reached quickly, in terms of total number of petitions received, how does this year compare to previous years?
For the previous 3 years the total number of H-1B petitions received are as follows:
H-1B Cap 2018: 199,000
H-1B Cap 2017: 236,000
H-1B Cap 2016: 233,000
Thus this year’s totals are down slightly when compared to previous years. While this will slightly increase the chances for getting selected for the lottery, this is still a stressful time for those employers and beneficiaries waiting for the lottery results. Using previous years as a guide, receipt notices for the FY 2019 H-1B cap should begin arriving at the end of April.
We will post an update as soon as our office begins receiving our receipt notices for the FY 2019 H-1B cap.