H-1B Cap Reached; USCIS to Conduct Random Lottery

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that between April 1, 2013 and April 5, 2013, it received more than 65,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions and more than 20,000 H-1B petitions for individuals holding a U.S. master's degree or higher. USCIS will no longer accept H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2014 cap or the advanced degree exemption.

USCIS will use a computer-generated random selection process for all FY 2014 cap-subject petitions received through April 5, 2013. As the agency did back in 2008, USCIS will first conduct a random lottery of the 20,000 H-1B cases eligible under the master's cap exemption. Those cases not selected as one of the 20,000 under the master's cap exemption will then be included in the random lottery for the 65,000 allotment. USCIS has not yet announced the exact day of the random lottery and has not provided the total number of petitions received under either the regular cap or the master's cap exemption. USCIS indicates that more information related to H-1B cap issues will be provided next week.

Previously, USCIS announced that it will begin its premium processing service for H-1B cap cases on April 15. Depending on the date the random lottery is conducted, USCIS may need to push back the start date of premium processing. Again, USCIS will provide further information on the lottery and processing of H-1B cap cases next week.

Additional information can also be found on our previous legal updates from January 25, 2013 and March 19, 2013.