2010 was the only year that the number of new applications provably didn't hit the cap - i.e. the entire quota was definitely not consumed. There were ~76k app

2010 was the only year that the number of new applications provably didn't hit the cap - i.e. the entire quota was definitely not consumed. There were ~76k applications approved. The annual cap is 65k + 20k Masters + 5k (Singapore & Chile) + unlimited for non-profits[1] I know people whose applications from the 2011 quota were made and approved well into 2012 - so 2011 almost certainly did not hit the 85k (65k + 20K Masters) quota either. I assume 2009 was similar. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa#H-1B_applications_approved https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa#H-1B_applications_ap...