USCIS announced earlier this week that it will continue to accept petitions for H-1B visas that are subject to the Fiscal Year 2011 H-1B Annual Cap. USCIS will accept enough petitions to ensure it is able to reach the 65,000 general H-1B cap and the 20,000 cap reserved for individuals with U.S. master’s degrees or higher.

As of this week, USCIS has received roughly 13,500 petitions counting toward the general cap and about 5,600 petitions for individuals with U.S. master’s degrees or above.

Please note that for cases that were filed during the first five-day window of this year’s filing period (April 1-7), the 15-day premium processing period began on April 7, 2010. The premium processing period for cases filed after that date will begin on the date that the petitions is received at the correct USCIS Service Center for processing.