I just had an O-1 extraordinary ability petition approved in record time – a little under 2 weeks – without premium processing! It was great news and a needed counterbalance against recent news that the H-1B cap had been reached for FY 2010.
Let’s see how quickly next year’s H-1B numbers go – I wager that the cap will not be reached on April 1, 2010. If the economy is taking that long to heat up and create jobs, and the most recent rate of H-1B usage was approximatly 4,500 per month, then in the next three months the pent-up demand would round out to about 15,000. Let’s estimate up a bit to 20,000 and there will still probably be visa numbers around for the early Spring.