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| Photo: Anna Tarazevich |
On April 1st, USCIS announced that it has completed the H-1B lottery for FY 2025. It means that USCIS has selected enough electronic registrations for unique beneficiaries to meet the regular H-1B visa quota of 65,000, plus the 20,000 cap for advanced degree holders. This year, a new H-1B rule is in effect, and each qualified beneficiary is treated as one unique registration for random selection, regardless of how many employers have entered registrations for them.
How do I know if I am selected?
USCIS has released the selection results online through the employers online accounts. "Selected" means the case was selected to file an H-1B cap petition. "Not Selected" indicates the case is not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition. However, in anticipation of a second lottery, USCIS has kept the unselected registrations in "Submitted" status for now. It means that there may still be a chance for selection later this year.
What are the next steps if I am selected?
If your case was selected, you should work with your employer to submit a complete H-1B petition within the filing window. The filing window for the initially selected cases are from April 1st to June 30. Late filings will be rejected. Similarly, use of outdated forms and failure to submit a legally sufficient H-1B petition will result in rejection or denial of the petition. As for April 1st, USCIS has adjusted the filing fees for various immigration petitions, including the I-129 form for H-1B petitions. The employer is now required to pay an additional asylum fee. Further, starting April 1st, employers must use a new edition of the I-129 form. USCIS has also changed the filing locations of many petitions, allowing online filing of H-1B petitions for the first time.
Will there be a second lottery this year?
If USCIS has not received sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the annual quota, it will conduct a 2nd or 3rd drawing to select applications for adjudications. It is difficult to predict the chances for that to happen now, as there are several factors involved. First, although USCIS has not formally released the number of H-1B registrations this year, the banning of muliple entries for the same employee should have greatly reduced the total number of eligible entries in the initial lottery. It means that, compared to last year, most of the selected cases will actually be submitting H-1B petitions. (Inerestingly, USCIS appears to allow multiple employers to submit H-1B petitions for the same selected employee under the new rule, but this should not affect the counting of visa numbers.)
Secondly, USCIS has implemented a new policy requiring an H-1B employer to prove that there is a bona fide job offer for the beneficiary. This may affect the number of H-1B filings and/or approvals, because some IT consulting firms may not be able to provide such proof if they do not have a client project for the H-1B employee. Finally, there is always a percentage of cases that will drop out or be rejected for various reasons. On balance, we are hopeful that there will be some unused H-1B visa numbers in the summer.
Delays of Receipt Notices Expected
When USCIS receives a timely and properly filed H-1B cap subject petition, it will provide the petitioner and the attorney of record a Form I-797, Notice of Action, as proof of filing. Because of the large volumes of H-1B cap filings each year, USCIS already advised the public that it expects some delays in the issuance of the I-797 receipt notices. If delivery of the petition has been confirmed by the Post Office or delivery service, employers should not submit a second petition, as this will result in denial or revocation of both petitions.
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