On Friday, April 5, 2019, USCIS announced that it once again reached the limit for H-1B Petitions submitted under the Fiscal Year 2020 Regular Cap, and which arrived at the Service between April 1 – 5, 2019. USCIS will proceed to confirm whether its 20,000 U.S. Master’s Cap has been met, after which it will move forward with the randomized selection (“lottery”) to determine which cases it will adjudicate.
Unlike in past years, and as we’ve covered at length, USCIS will first select the 65,000 H-1B Petitions from the general pool of Cap-Subject submissions that arrived last week – including cases filed under the U.S. Master’s Cap. Then, the Service will select 20,000 of the remaining U.S. Master’s Cap Petitions for adjudication. As always, unselected H-1B Petitions will be returned along with their government filing fees.
We expect to receive confirmation regarding whether H-1B Cap Petitions has been selected in the coming weeks. Selected Petitions filed requesting a change of status and Premium Processing will be notified that the 15-day clock has begun no later than May 20, 2019. All cases requesting Consular Processing and those change of status Petitions that did not include a Form I-907 and accompanying filing fee should have the opportunity to upgrade their Petitions to Premium Processing during the summer.
The difference between selection or return may provide a beneficiary with certain benefits, or trigger the need to take immediate action. If you have any questions regarding your pending H-1B Cap Petition, please do not hesitate to contact our office.
