INDICATION OF RISING APPLICATIONS FOR H-1B VISAS

 Out of the total cap of 65,000 general H-1B visas that are available each fiscal year (October to September) the USCIS has received approximately 56,300 H-1B cap-subject petitions as of November 14, 2011 for the current fiscal.  What is important to note is that between October 14, 2011 (when the USCIS last published the H-1B count and October 21, 2011 the USCIS received almost 3,000 petitions.  Between October 7, 2011 and October 14, 2011 the USCIS received 2,300 petitions.  This seems to indicate acceleration in the rate of filing H-1B petitions and the cap is expected to be reached within the next few weeks.  Indian companies are also rushing to file as many petitions as possible before the numbers run out.The USCIS has received the maximum number (20,000) of H-1B petitions for foreign nationals with advanced US degrees.