Friday, October 29, 2010

GREG SISKIND MOVES H-1B EXHAUSTION TARGET TO FEBRUARY 2011

Greg Siskind, our forecasting guru blogs that 1500 H-1Bs were claimed in the last week and just over 20,000 remain for the fiscal year. Based on a four week rolling average (1175), he is projecting the target will be exhausted in 17 weeks which will be February 23, 2011. Previously, he had been projecting March, but the overall usage of H-1Bs has been somewhat busier in the last month than in previous months. The masters cap usage this past week was 500 and the monthly average is 450. There are 3,800 H-1Bs left of 20,000 and he is projecting that cap will be exhausted in late December, a projection that has stayed the same for several months.

USCIS UPDATES H-1B CAP COUNT FOR OCTOBER 22, 2010 -- AT 44,300

USCIS issued another H-1B cap update. As of October 22, 2010, they have received approximately 44,300 H-1B petitions subject to the regular cap plus approximately 16,200 H-1B petitions subject to the master's degree cap for people with U.S. advanced degrees. Still plenty of visas left for the next couple of months, but don't be surprised if the cap is exhaused by January. We'll wait and see how it goes.