USCIS UPDATES H-1B CAP COUNT FOR APRIL 8 -- AT 13,500

USCIS announced that as of April 8, 2010, it has received approximately 13,500 H-1B petitions counting toward the 65,000 cap and approximately 5,600 petitions for individuals with U.S. advanced degrees. Therefore, the H-1B season is still open and USCIS will continue to accept the H-1B petitions until the cap is reached.
A sluggish economy and many available American workers who were laid off are probably the culprit for the low usage. At the same time, the recent Neufeld memo restricting the IT consulting companies from sponsoring H-1B visas has probably hurt many of these companies and restricted their sponsorship abilities.