The California Service Center and the Vermont Service Center held a joint stakeholder engagement in Laguna Niguel, California on April 5th, 2012.  At this event, USCIS announced that 22,323 cap-subject H-1b petitions were received by USCIS as of April 4th, 2012.  Of this number, 25 percent were submitted as advanced degree cases.  As many readers might remember, 20,000 H-1b visas are available for individuals qualifying with an advanced degree and 65,000 visas can be used for all other H-1b cases. The number of cases received towards the H-1b cap should alert employers who are still considering whether to file H-1b cap cases to take action.  The amount of cases received in this initial period for FY 2013 is almost twice the number received last year at this time. Employers should expect that the H-1b cap will be exhausted on a much earlier date than what occurred in the last few years. As always, the Hammond Law Group is happy to answer any questions about the H-1b process.