As mentioned in a previous article, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) completed the fiscal year (FY) 2020 H-1B Cap selection process and reached the number for the U.S. advanced degree exemption, also known as the master’s cap. Below, you will find some more information about the H-1B cap selection as well as next steps for the FY 2020 H-1B cap.
USCIS received 201,011 H-1B cap filings between April 1 and April 5, 2019. This was a 5.7% increase compared to last year’s 190,098 H-1B cap filings. In fact, this year’s filing numbers have been the highest since 2016 when a record 236,000 H-1B cap filings were submitted.
This year, at least 42% of the H-1B cap filings will be selected against the quota of 85,000. This year, the odds for advanced-degree cases to be selected are higher due to the new regulations that give these cases a second chance for selection if they are not chosen in the initial lottery.
H-1B employers whose petitions are selected in the H-1B cap should receive filing receipts within weeks after the completion of the lotteries. Some employers who have opted for premium processing service have already begun to receive emailing filing receipts. It may take up to several weeks or more for USCIS to issue filing receipts by mail for petitions filed with regular processing.
USCIS is expected to complete the initial adjudication of premium processing H-1B cap cases by June 4 and regular processing H-1B cap cases by early to mid-June. H-1B cap cases that were not selected in the lottery will be returned to their petitioners with their filing fees (except for any cases that were deemed duplicated filings).
We will keep you up to date regarding this matter. Please do not hesitate to let our office know if you have any questions regarding this matter.