On Thursday, July 27, 2023, USCIS announced that they will be conducting a second round of the H-1B Cap lottery for Fiscal Year 2024. USCIS did not provide a specific date or time when this round will be released, but did note that it would occur “soon.” USCIS will select additional registrations from the previously submitted electronic registrations and will announce once the selection process has occurred. All prospective petitioners will be notified through their online myUSCIS accounts.
This is welcome news following an H-1B Cap season that was rampant with abuse and which resulted in remarkably low H-1B Cap selection rates for many employers. As we detailed back in May, USCIS received a record amount of registrations this year (780,884) over half of which were one of several submissions for the same worker. In its announcement today, USCIS did not indicate how many petitions were received and/or approved in the first round of this year’s lottery, nor how many additional registrations will be selected in the second round.
Our Firm will continue to provide updates on this situation as it evolves, and we remain on standby to answer any and all questions regarding the H-1B Cap process.
