The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on March 15, 2013 that, based on feedback from a number of stakeholders, “USCIS anticipates that it may receive more than 65,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions and more than 20,000 petitions filed on behalf of individuals with a U.S. master’s degree or higher between April 1, 2013 and April 5, 2013.  This could be the first time since April 2008 that the H-1B cap will require a lottery.”

According to the regulations, any H-1B cap-subject petition that is filed (received by USCIS) between April 1 and April 5 is treated as if it was received on April 1.  If the H-1B cap is reached on or before April 5, USCIS will conduct a lottery to determine which petitions received between April 1 and April 5 will be receipted in.  Any H-1B petitions that are not chosen in the lottery will be returned with the filing fees.

In addition, USCIS announced that premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions, including U.S. advance degree petitions, will begin on April 15, 2013.  Generally, USCIS provides premium processing service for certain employment-based petitions (including H-1B petitions) for an additional fee of $1,225 and guarantees a 15-calendar-day processing time.  However, USCIS announced that this year, “[d]ue to the historic premium processing receipt levels, combined with the possibility that the H-1B cap will be met in the first 5 business days of the filing season, USCIS has temporarily adjusted its current premium processing practice.”  USCIS will continue to accept requests for premium processing between April 1, 2013 and April 14, 2013, but those requests will only be adjudicated starting April 15, 2013.

Based on this information from USCIS, Orner & O’Brien strongly urges all clients to be prepared to file all their cap-subject H-1B visa petitions by the end of March.  The USCIS press release can be found here.