FY2014 H-1B Cap Update – 124,000 H-1B Cap Petitions Filed; Lottery Completed
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has just provided some updated numbers in connection with the 2014 fiscal year (FY2014) H-1B cap. Many of our readers are aware that on Friday, April 5th, USCIS announced that they have received sufficient number of H-1B petitions to close the FY2014 H-1B cap as of Friday. Today USCIS has announced that they have received a total of 124,000 H-1B petitions for both the regular and U.S. master’s degree caps.
Lottery Conducted on April 7th
On April 7, 2013, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process (commonly known as a “lottery”) to select a sufficient number of H-1B petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 for the general category and 20,000 under the advanced degree exemption limit. This suggests that for many H-1B beneficiaries, the chances of being selected under the H-1B lottery are a little bit over 50% (U.S. master’s degree holders have slightly higher chance because they are part of two iterations of the lottery, if they are not successful in the initial U.S. master’s degree iteration of the lottery).
For cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, USCIS will reject and return the petition with filing fees, unless it is found to be a duplicate filing.
Post-Lottery Processing
Petitions which are selected under the lottery will be issued receipt notices and will be put in a processing queue. Due to the heavy demand this year, we expect the H-1B processing times to be somewhat long. Petitions filed under the premium processing service will start to be processed on April 15 and this is when the 15-day premium processing clock will begin.
Conclusion
We will continue providing updates on the FY2014 H-1B cap season, including filing statistics, as they become available. In the meantime, please feel free to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to obtain developments on this and related topics. If our office can be of any help, please feel free to contact us.
About the Author: Dimo Michailov
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The Capitol Immigration Law Group has been serving the business community for over 15 years and is one of the most widely respected immigration law firms focused solely on U.S. employment-based immigration. Disclaimer: we make all efforts to provide timely and accurate information; however, the information in this article may become outdated or may not be applicable to a specific set of facts. It is not to be construed as legal advice.