According to Donald Neufeld, Associate Director of the Service Center Operations (SCOPS) Directorate, the USCIS has started the data entry process for H-1B petitions selected in the lottery. Premium processing cases are being handled first and data entry for those cases should be completed by April 15. USCIS announced on March 15, 2013, that the 15-day premium processing clock will start on April 15.
Please note that data entry for non-premium processing cases will begin after the premium processing cases are entered. According to Neufeld, data entry for non-premium cases will likely not be completed until sometime in May, and rejection notices for petitions not selected in the lottery will be sent out after that. Neufeld also noted that when the cap was reached on the first day in 2008, USCIS did not complete data entry and issue receipt notices until late in May.
While we have started receiving some H-1B receipts, we expect that receipts for those cases selected under the cap will continue to trickle in over the next few weeks. In light of the statements by Mr. Neufeld, we may not have a complete picture of all the cases that were accepted/not accepted until sometime in May.
If we learn of any additional updates on the H-1B lottery/processing times, we will communicate this to you in a client alert.