August 24th H1B visa FY 2011 Cap count Update – 4,500 petitions filed

USCIS updated the latest H1B cap count numbers today. As  of August 20^th, 2010.  The updated cap numbers since last time are:

• New 4,200 Cap eligible H1B visa petitions were filed for Regular Quota.
• New 300 cap eligible H1B petitions for Advanced degree cap .

August 20^th , 2010 USCIS official Total H1B cap count update :

Analysis – H1B fee increase Impact on filings, Job Market

Wow! That’s a big spike in the H1B filings, if we have look at the numbers this week, the regular cap H1B filings increased over 3 times compared to last week, i.e. August 17^th ,2010 H1B cap count update,  from 1,200 to 4,200. The advanced degree cap numbers just stayed around same hovering around 300. Overall, the cap numbers went up by almost 3 times from 1,600 to 4,500.

Well, it is quite obvious that the spike in H1B petition filings is primarily impacted by the H1B fee increase by $2000 that was signed by Obama.  As soon as the companies speculated that the bill was pushing through senate and then house, most of them jumped and filed their LCA and H1B petitions subsequently.  Unfortunately, it was not clear as to when it would become law as USCIS did not take a stance until Aug 19^th conference Call.  As USCIS updated H1B Fee increase effective from Aug 14^th , it might have impacted some of those H1B petitions filed during last week. Also, it is highly likely that petitions filed this last week will get lot of RFEs. Do NOT be surprise  because, USCIS clearly stated that they would give RFE if there is no document proving the company stats and other stuff indicating why the $2000 fee does not apply to them.  Do NOT panic if you get an RFE for filing last week , it is just administrative thing and you will be fine.

If we look at the jobs market perspective, US Dept of Labor released the jobless numbers and the initial claims went up by 12,000 and touched 500,000 mark. It does not look very good.  Also, there is concern about the jobs markets as US is bringing back troops, it would be challenging to find work for the army people…Not that they would directly impact H1B jobs, just a general economy perspective.  Also, the housing market is as bad as before. The July numbers will be reported tomorrow. Lets see if there is any good in there. Overall, the recovery is sluggish as before and nothing significant….it is a slow recovery.   As per H1B filings, we might expect some slow down as the fee is increase now…but, there may be decent pace in next week as some of the companies might be in middle of filing process, overall there might be a little slowdown…..One way to avoid the H1B fee hike impact is to go to an American company, but you know how hard it is to get some of these companies to sponsor work visa.

If you can go to H1B Visa FY 2011 Updates Page, Scroll down and update Case status, it will help others with Timeline. Just one way to compare your dates with others and lessen anxiety !

What are your thoughts on the fee increase and H1B filings ? Any economy thoughts ?

Regular H1B 2011 cap count Trend Graph

Advanced Degree H1B Cap Prediction Graphs

Related posts:

1. August 9th H1B visa FY 2011 Cap count Update – 1500 petitions filed
2. August 17th H1B visa FY 2011 Cap count Update – 1600 petitions filed.
3. August 31st USCIS H1B visa FY 2011 Cap count Update – 1,400 petitions filed
4. August 3rd H1B visa FY 2011 Cap count Update – 1600 petitions filed
5. June 24th H1B visa FY 2011 Cap count Update – 1000 petitions filed. Graph.