USCIS estimates that as as of 9 April 2012, approximately 25,600 H-B cases had been receipted. Out of these petitions, 17,400 are for bachelor's degree and 8,200 for for people with advanced degrees. These numbers are considerable hire than the last year's at this time.
USCIS has indicated that 22,323 cap-subject H-1B petitions had been received as of April 4, 2012. Approximately one quarter (1/4) of these cases are for advanced degrees. According to USCIS, the number of filings received is almost double the number of filings received by USCIS during the same time last year. It would appear that H-1B numbers are likely to get exhausted a lot earlier than last year.
Here is a question from our community:
My husband and I have our N400 petition pending for almost 18 months. We passed our interview in July 2007 and had our 2nd fingerprinting 2 weeks ago. We were also informed that we have been cleared from background check. We have to leave for an international assignment in December and would like to understand the steps we need to take so it does not impact/disrupt our naturalization process, in case we do not get called for oath by then.