On April 5, 2013, USCIS announced that it had received more than the allotted 65,000 “regular” and 20,000 US master’s degree applications for H-1B status. The application period is now closed and a lottery will be conducted among all the applications received from April 1 to April 5.

The harsh reality is that no new H-1Bs for cap-subject jobs (jobs that are not for an institution of higher education, on a college campus, for a non-profit affiliate of an institution of higher education, or certain non-profit research organization positions) will be available until October 1, 2014 – unless Congress changes the law.