I've recently had some experience with this and it seems only about 60k h1b visas are available each year (year starts in September). http://www.uscis.gov/port

I've recently had some experience with this and it seems only about 60k h1b visas are available each year (year starts in September). http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=4b7cdd1d5fd37210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f... If you want to see a count down for the 2012 quota I've been told that most of those go to larger companies and that startups might find it harder to get them (this is anecdotal though)