17,000 H-1Bs through April 4

The USCIS has just informed AILA that 22,323 cap-subject H-1B petitions have been received as of April 4, 2012. Approximately 25% of these cases are for U.S. advanced degrees. Based on this announcement, approximately 17,000 of the 65,000 “regular” H-1B cap-subject petitions have been filed and 5,500 “Masters” H-1B cap-subject petitions.

Last year, the USCIS reported that 17,400 “regular” H-1B cap-subject numbers had been used through June 29, 2011. It took about 4 and one-half months for the remaining 47,600 “regular” H-1B slots to be filled. If this year’s pace were to equal last year’s pace, that would mean that the H-1B numbers would be exhausted by mid-August.

However this year’s demand seems certain to be greater than that. Last year 15,000 “regular” H-1B cap-subject H-1Bs were filed in the final month (November 2011). If the November 2011 demand is a reasonable metric for usage projection, this year’s H-1B cap would be reached approximately June 1, 2012.