USCIS announced today that it "received approximately 124,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption." On April 7, 2013, these applications were processed through a computer-generated random selection process known as the lottery to determine which ones would receive the 65,000 visas generally allocated for H-1Bs as well as the 20,000 allocated for holders of advanced degrees from the US. USCIS will reject and return the petitions not selected in the lottery along with the filing fees.