US CIS will begin accepting H-1B petitions on Monday, April 1st, for the new fiscal year starting on October 1, 2014.

It is expected that USCIS may receive more petitions than the allowable H-1B cap during the initial acceptance period. If this occurs, then US CIS will conduct a lottery to determine which H-1B petitions filed during the initial period will be accepted for processing.

The numerical limitation on H-1B petitions for FY 2015 for the regular cap is 65,000 and it is 20,000 for the U.S. Master's degree or higher cap. Those foreign nationals who have previously held H-1B status within the past 6 years or are filing for an extension of their current H-1B are not subject to the cap. Several other categories of H-1B applicants are also exempt from the quota, including those who are already in H-1B status and seeking a change of employer.

Last year, USCIS received 124,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period (including those for advanced degrees). As a result, the H-1B cap was met during the initial acceptance period, causing USCIS to conduct a lottery. During the fiscal year 2014 filing period, USCIS temporarily adjusted its previous premium processing practice and did not begin processing H-1B Cap premium processing requests until April 15, 2013.

If you intend to file an H-1B petition for a cap-subject H-1B employee, it is crucially important to begin working on this process right away.