On April 1, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory H-1B visa “cap” for fiscal year (FY) 2025.
The USCIS announcement states:
“We have randomly selected enough properly submitted registrations for unique beneficiaries projected as needed to reach the H-1B cap and have notified all prospective petitioners with selected beneficiaries that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for such beneficiaries. Registrants’ online accounts will now show one of the following statuses for each registration (that is, for each beneficiary registered):
Submitted: The registration has been submitted and is eligible for selection. If the initial selection process has been completed, this registration remains eligible, unless subsequently invalidated, for selection in any subsequent selections for the fiscal year for which it was submitted.
Selected: Selected to file an H-1B cap petition.
Not Selected: Not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.
Denied – duplicate registration: Multiple registrations were submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for the same beneficiary. If denied as a duplicate registration, all registrations submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for this beneficiary for the fiscal year are invalid.
Invalidated – failed payment: A registration was submitted but the payment method was declined, not reconciled, or otherwise invalid.
Deleted: The submitted registration has been deleted and is no longer eligible for selection.
Processing submission: USCIS is processing your submission. It may take up to 72 hours for all of your case information to show on the case details page. While it is processing, you will be unable to access your draft.
… H-1B cap-subject petitions for FY 2025, including those petitions eligible for the advanced degree exemption, may be filed with USCIS beginning April 1, 2024, if filed for a selected beneficiary and based on a valid registration. Only petitioners with registrations for selected beneficiaries may file H-1B cap-subject petitions for FY 2025.”
USCIS has not yet announced whether and when an additional selection might take place in 2024. In 2023 and 2021, additional selections took place to make use of unused H-1B visas. In 2022 no additional selections took place. We will watch developments closely and post updates here as they occur.
© Jewell Stewart Pratt Beckerson & Carr PC 2024