The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced today that the agency has completed its selection of the cap-subject H-1B petitions that will move forward for processing for fiscal year 2018.
USCIS also stated that Premium Processing service remains suspended for all H-1B petitions including cap-subject and cap-exempt H-1B petitions.
As detailed in our previous news update, USCIS may grant up to a maximum of 65,000 new H-1B visas per fiscal year, with a separate 20,000 H-1B visas available for beneficiaries who have earned a Master’s degree or higher from a United States institution.
This year USCIS received 199,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions. Because USCIS received more H-1B cap-subject petitions than the available number of H-1B visas, the agency used a computer-generated random selection process, known as the “H-1B lottery,” to determine which petitions out of the total number received will be processed under the numerical limits.
USCIS has not stated a timeframe in which notices for selected or rejected cases will be sent. If the agency follows a similar timeline as last year, receipts for the cases selected in the lottery are likely to be issued and mailed (via regular U.S. mail) in the next few weeks.
Jackson & Hertogs will continue to monitor for updates on the FY 2018 H-1B Cap. For more information on the H-1B visa, please visit our guides at this link. For more information on the H-1B Cap for Fiscal Year 2018, click here.
