BengalTiger,

I had applied my h1b after october last year and i know some people had applied even in december.It is up to USCIS if they want to terminate remaining H1b quotas after october 1st,However, at this bad economy,i believe they wouldnot do so.You can surely apply for h1b and you should continue your job without any worries.

I hardly write in sajha but i couldnot resist myself seeing your inquiry.If you want to get an instant result you might want to do premium processing as i did.I got result in 3 days.

Hope this helps.

DS