Welcome back to Visalawyerblog! In this post, we bring you the latest H-1B lottery news.
Today, August 23, 2022, USCIS announced that the computer-generated H-1B lottery has been fully completed to select enough petitions to meet the H-1B regular cap and the U.S. advanced degree exemption for fiscal year 2023.
With this announcement, USCIS brings the 2023 fiscal year H-1B lottery to a close. Those wishing to participate in the program must wait until March 2023 to submit new applications for the fiscal year 2024 H-1B visa lottery.
For fiscal year 2023, USCIS previously announced that the agency received 483,927 H-1B registrations and initially selected 127,600 registrations as needed to reach the fiscal year 2023 numerical allocations. No second lottery was conducted. Those with selected registrations received notification of selection through their myUSCIS accounts including a selection notice, with details about when and where to file.
In comparison to fiscal year 2022, USCIS received 308,613 H-1B registrations and initially selected 87,500 registrations to meet the fiscal year 2022 numerical allocations. A second lottery took place which selected an additional 27,717 registrations, and a third lottery selected an additional 16,753 registrations, for a total of 131,970 selected registrations in fiscal year 2022.
What happens next?
At this point, USCIS has completed its selection process and sent out non-selection notifications via the myUSCIS online accounts to those petitioners and their attorneys who were not selected for FY 2023.
The status for registrations properly submitted for the FY 2023 H-1B numerical allocations, but that were not selected, will now show:
- Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this
USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. For instance, petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, are exempt from the FY 2023 H-1B cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:
- Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;
- Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
- Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
- Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in additional H-1B positions.
If you have any questions regarding your petition, please contact your case manager.
Weren’t selected in the FY 2023 lottery? Do not lose hope. We invite you to contact our office to determine what other visa options may be right for you.
If you are in this situation, we have just the blog post for you, Plan B: Alternatives to the H-1B Visa.
Helpful Links
- USCIS Reaches Fiscal Year 2023 H-1B Cap
- FY 2023 H-1B Cap Season Updates
- Plan B: Alternatives to the H-1B Visa
- How Do I Request Premium Processing?
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- Processing Posts for Visa Applicants in Ukraine
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