The H1B quota for fiscal year 2011 opens as of October 1, 2010. Since it is possible to file an H1B petition up to six months before the requested employment authorization begins, the USCIS began accepting petitions for the new fiscal year as of April 1, 2010.

The USCIS reported that they had received a total of 13,500 "regular cap" petitions and 5,600 "advanced degree exception" petitions as of April 8, 2010. This is somewhat below the numbers of cases filed during the same interval last year.

For the time being, there are still plenty of spots available under the quota. Last year, after a slow start, the quota remained  open without much change in the net receipts until late Fall. Then, suddenly, the net receipts shot up dramatically.

Petitioners and employees planning to file under the 2011 quota should not assume that it is going to remain open as long as the quota remained open last year.

One thing that may be different from last year is the rate of denial. At the start of the last year's new quota filing period, the USCIS was denying H1B petitions at an unprecedented rate. As a result, the pending number of petitions remained static for months. We do not know if something similar will happen this year. The USCIS seems to be returning to their earlier position on adjudications, which has resulted in a higher rate of approvals.

The USCIS has a dedicated web page for updating the quota count. This page is updated on an irregular basis.