These Advanced Degree H1B Visa Cap Count Statistics Will Blow your Mind Away – 2020 – 2019

Have you seen the total H1B Visa Cap Count and Petitions filed under the Advanced Cap for last few years?

Do you want to know how many F1 Students changed to H1B Visa – Exact Numbers?

Perhaps, you know USCIS selects more than 85,000 H1B Visas in the Lottery. But, exactly how much is that?

Well, you are in for a treat today!

Also, do you like to know these data:

Exact Odds of getting selected in the H1B Visa Lottery under Advanced degree cap?

What is the link between the number of students on F1 OPT, STEM OPT vs H1B Visa Advanced Degree Cap Count?

Applying for H1B Visa in April, 2019, check out this post – 13 Useful Tips for H1B Visa 2020 Season

Let’s looks at the H1B Visa Cap Count for 2020, 2019 and all the way to 2007.

Table 1 – H1B Visa Cap Count 2020, 2019 and Before

While you are looking at this table, play close attention to increasing trend in the number of STEM OPT folks.

You can get a good estimate of how many H1B Visa Advanced Degree Petitions would be filed this April 2019.

Here’s how to interpret the date

1. Total H1B = Total Number of H1B Visa petitions received by USCIS
2. Regular Cap = Total H1B Petitions submitted under Regular Cap
3. Advanced Cap = Total H1B Petitions submitted under Advanced Degree Cap
4. F1 to H1B = Total Number people who converted from F1 to H1B Status
5. OPT and STEM OPT = Number of Active Students on OPT & STEM OPT Status

Rest of the data are from USCIS and other Agencies.

I’m pretty sure the following two data point are Brand New to you.

• Total Number of H1B Visa Petitions filed Advanced Cap – This number was withheld by USCIS until recently.
• F1 to H1B – This number will tell you exactly the probability of getting H1B Visa approval under Advanced Degree Cap (never seen before)

Combine the above data with a total number of STEM OPT people. You can know estimated H1B Visa 2020 cap count.

Historic H1B Visa Cap Count – 2020 to 2003

Following table shows the H1B Visa Cap count from 2020 to 2003.

F1 to H1B Visa Approval

Let’s find the Odds

You might be wondering how come 100% approvals for F1 to H1B Visa in 2013 and 2009.

Here’s the caveat with the data:

So, this includes F1 students receiving Cap-Exempt H1B Visa, Advanced Degree Cap and other numbers might be less significant.

I would assume that the number of F1 to Cap Exempt H1B might be less.

So, you can adjust the F1 to H1B via H1B Visa Lottery to be a few percentage points less and I can live with that.

With New H1B Visa Lottery Order, the odds of getting selected in the Lottery is around 55%

• Read More – H1B Visa 2020 Probability (with a detailed analysis of new lottery reversal impact)

How Many H1B Visa Petitions Does USCIS Select in the Lottery?

Until recently, we had no idea about how the H1B Visa Lottery is conducted by the USCIS.

Here is the only piece of data published by USCIS back in April 13, 2007

But, we know that some petitions would be Rejected by USCIS due to errors or other reasons.

What happens to such petitions?

Does USCIS select more H1B Visa petitions that 85,000?

Do they send Receipt Notice to additional petitions right away?

We don’t the answers many questions yet.

But, we do know this – USCIS selects about 11,000 to 13,000 additional H1B Visa petitions in the H1B Visa Lottery in addition to 85,000.

• 20,000 = Advanced Degree Cap
• 65,000 – Regular Cao
• 11,000 to 13,000 = Buffer H1B Petitions

 

Summary: H1B Visa Cap Count

• Number of H1B Visa Cap filed under Advanced Degree Cap will continue to Increase
• USCIS selected about 15% additional H1B petitions in the lottery
• Several Employers don’t hire an Attorney to apply for H1B Visa (G-28 Form)
• For the first time, you are seeing the Advanced Degree Cap Numbers for the last 5 years of H1b Visa Cap Count season

I’m sure you will feel special sharing this date with your friends and probably they have not seen this data as well.