Does 1st April H1b Filing Date Apply for Residency ?

Just like there can be several meangings to the same word (a fact that becomes specially important during the GRE), there are various ways of saying the same thing.
Like, I have already covered that usually the H1b visas sponsored for Residencies and Fellowships are exempt from the annual H1b cap i.e. the quota system does not apply to them. But since recently I have had some email queries from nervous IMGs wondering if they will have enough time to apply for H1bs immediately after the Match Day in March, I am repeating that with a a different angle :-)

H1b visas from non-profit organizations and institutions of higher education are exempt from the annual 'H1b quota'. Residencies and Fellowships are usually administered as academic programs by the Graduate Medical Education (GME) section of a institution, yet there are very few places where the residency program is run / funded like a regular employee program and will fall undert the H1-b cap. The April 1st H1b filing date will apply only these 'capped H1bs'.

But for the majority programs where the cap does not apply, the H1b visa can be filed at any time of the year.Let me quote a latest circular by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services:
"The public is reminded that petitioners may file a qualifying H-1B cap exempt petition at any time of the year dependent on the petitioner’s need, and no earlier than six months ahead of the intended start date."

Seondly, the capped H1b employement can only begin on 1st October each year, while residencies start of the 1st of July ! So, since IMGs have starting residencies on H1 from 1st July itself, that's another evidence that residency (and fellowship) H1bs do not have to filed the same time-line as capped H1bs.

Anyways, If you did interview at a residency program where the H1b cap applies (You need to ask the residency program to confirm that), I strongly advise preferring the non-cap residencies to the capped residencies, since the introduction of lottery system for the capped H1b visa approvals has brought in considerable amount of uncertainty on whether you would even get a visa.Having said that, please note that the residencies with caps might not be more than a handful.