The annual cap or quota for new H-1B visas is set by Congress at 65,000 new visas per year, not including the 20,000 H-1B visas available under the U.S. advanced degree cap exemption. As of April 1st, the “filing season” for new H-1B visas was officially underway.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has recently announced that, as of May 21, 2010, 19,600 H-1B petitions filed under the regular cap and 8,200 H-1B petitions filed under the Master’s exemption cap have been received.