US CIS announced on March 15, 2013 that it will begin accepting H-1B petitions on Monday, April 1st, for the new fiscal year starting on October 1, 2013.

As noted in a press release from US CIS linked here, US CIS anticipates that it may receive more petitions than the allowable H-1B cap during the initial acceptance period (April 1st through April 5th).

The numerical limitation on H-1B petitions for FY 2014 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 status 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.

The last fiscal year that the H-1B cap was met during the initial acceptance period was in April 2008. For more information on FY 2014 H-1B petitions, please see the US CIS site here.

Premium Processing of H-1B Cap Cases Petitioners can still request premium processing service. However, US CIS has temporarily adjusted its current premium processing practice and will begin processing H-1B Cap premium processing requests on 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.