The Press Trust of India (PTI) is reporting that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received 22,000 H-1B applications in the first four days of Fiscal Year 2013.
A spokesperson for USCIS said the government has received "approximately 22,000 H-1B petitions" since FY 2013 began on April 2. The spokesperson emphasized to PTI that the numbers are preliminary.
The 22,000 figure counts petitions filed for both the regular (65,000) and advanced degree (20,000) caps.
This number marks a significant increase in first week H-1B petitions over the past few years. If accurate, 22,000 would be highest number of early applications since 2009, when USCIS received 42,000 during the first week.
