5 Days: Time Taken For USCIS To Reach Cap On H1B Petitions This Year

Well that is definitely some record. It had taken 10 weeks last year, and in the year before that it took three times longer - but this year, in just 5 days, the USCIS has received enough petitions to fulfill the statutory cap of 65,000 H-1B petitions and 20,000 H-1B advanced degree exemption petitions from employers. They were allowed to file this paperwork only starting April 1. (Source)

How do we digest this number? One, employers are definitely seeing a lot of value in the H1B program and two, there is a huge mismatch between demand and supply. The main issue though, is about jobs being lost to foreign workers.

The record though belongs to the year 2008 - the window closed in one day in 2008.