H1B Visa Lottery: 200k petitions predicted
USCIS opening gates for H1B visas on April 1st 2014 for FY 2015 Quota. MSinUS.com predicting over 200,000+ applications in the first 4 days (between April 1st 2014 – April 4th 2014 Friday).
This will be the biggest number of USCIS H1B Quota history. Factors contributing to huge number of H1B petition in the history –
- Many candidates did not get selected in the last year’s lottery.
- High number of students graduating from US Universities and seeking for H1B visa.
- Employees with expiring OPT
- H4 to H1B conversions
- People applying for H1B visas from India and Other countries.
H1B Visa Lottery history in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2013
| Fiscal Year (FY) | Petitions accepted till | Number of Applications Received | Visas Available | Number of People who Missed the Lottery |
| 2015 | Expected to reach on April 1st 2014 | 200,000 applications expected | 85,000 | Over 115,000 |
| 2014 | April 5th 2013 | 1,24,000 | 85,000 | 39,000 |
| 2010, 2011, 2012 | – No lottery – | – No lottery – | 85,000 | Every petition considered |
| 2009 | April 9th 2008 | 163,000 | 85,000 | 78,000 |
| 2008 | April 2nd 2007 | 119,193 | 85,000 | 34193 |
Total number of H1B Visas available in year is 85,000. Out of 85k, 20,000 visas are reserved for advanced degree(Masters and above) candidates, 65000 belongs to Regular Quota.
Approval Chance in H1B FY 2015 Quota
Since 200,000 petition are expected and availability of H1B visas is 85,000 the chance of approval would be
(85000/200000)*100 = 42.5
