April 1, 2013 is the first day that a non-immigrant H-1B petition can be submitted to USCIS for Fiscal Year 2014 (which begins on October 1, 2013). For Fiscal Year 2014 the government will accept 65,000 H-1B petitions and an additional 20,000 H-1B petitions for persons with a US Master’s degree. This equals out to a total number of 85,000 petitions.
We have been advised by USCIS that they expect to receive the total allowable number of petitions for Fiscal Year 2014 during the first week of April. If the government does actually receive, during the first week of April, a total number of petitions in excess of the allotted 85,000 available USCIS will pool all applications and randomly select 20,000 I-129 petitions where the beneficiary has a US Master’s degree and an additional 65,000 petitions for persons without US Master’s degrees. (US Master’s degree petitions not selected as one of the 20,000 get a second chance at being selected as one of the 65,000.)
If USCIS does not receive the total allocation during the first week, all petitions filed during the first week will be accepted and adjudicated.
For Premium Processing, the government has advised us they will not begin adjudicating premium processing cases until the 15th of April.
Please watch our website for updates.