USCIS announced that it received 124,000 H-1B petitions subject to the fiscal year 2014 H-1B cap. Since there are only 65,000 numbers available for those with a bachelor’s degree and 20,000 for those with a US advanced degree (master’s or higher), it subjected the petitions to a random-computerized lottery and hopefully it will notify the petitioners immediately.
As one of my clients complained, “How can we run a business on a lottery?” In order for US businesses to grow and create jobs, it needs to have some modicum of certainty that it will be able to hire desperately needed workers. Otherwise, our economy will sputter along instead of being able to truly flourish. There are already enough roadblocks in the way to true recovery and this artificial H-1B cap, which is not based on actual demand and protects no one, only places another deleterious and unnecessary obstacle in the way of growth.