[sprovoost]

From what I've been able to gather:

* there is no lottery. If you apply after the cap has been reached you're out of luck (not sure about edge cases).

* if you were to apply right now, you would be able to start working no earlier than October 1st. After that you could start within a few weeks of application if your employer pays for expedited service. But you don't want to apply much later than autumn either; last year the cap was reached in January: http://1.usa.gov/H1Bcap11 The current batch is at 1/3rd: http://1.usa.gov/H1Bcap

* I've heard people say the market is more "hot", because of the potential bubble, which may mean they run out faster this year. On the other hand I've stats that say total investment is the same as last year, it's just more concentrated.