USCIS Starts Mailing H-1B Cap Non-Selection Notices

Two months after completing the random H-1B cap lottery, USCIS has started mailing back the H-1B cap applications which were not selected under the random H-1B cap lottery.     While the H-1B cap receipts for selected cases were sent out by May 3rd,  many employers and applicants who had not heard by now had to assume that their H-1B cap cases were not selected.

H-1B Cap Season Numbers

This year there were 199,000 applications filed for the 85,000 available H-1B cap visas, resulting in a simple calculation of about 35% average chance than an application will be selected for processing under the H-1B cap.    U.S. master’s degree holders have higher change, while the rest of the applicants have slightly lower chance due to the way U.S. master’s degree holders’ H-1B cap cases are given priority at the lottery.   This 35% chance is slightly higher than last year’s average chance of H-1B cap selection.

H-1B Cap Non-Selection Notices

The H-1B cap non-selection package contains a notice by USCIS explaining that the case was not picked by the random H-1B cap lottery and includes the full original documents package, including the filing fees submitted as part of it.    Due to the volume of the H-1B cap non-selection packages (about 115,000 are to be mailed out), we expect that USCIS may take several weeks to process and mail all H-1B cap rejection packages.

Rejection Date and F-1 Cap-Gap

F-1 OPT students whose H-1B cap application was not picked up by the random lottery and who were relying on the pending H-1B petition for continued OPT work authorization under the “cap-gap” rule should understand that the rejection notice means that they may need to stop working and may be subject to the 60-day F-1 grace period.    We urge such F-1 students to consult their Designated School Official (DSO), employer or our office for a more thorough review of their options.    We also have more details in our F-1 OPT “cap-gap” article.

H-1B Cap Alternatives and Webinar

Our office has been very active in the H-1B employer and employee communities and we have seen great interest towards H-1B cap alternative visa options.   To further discuss these alternatives and to do so in more detail, on July 14, 2017, we are going to hold a live webinar session to discuss and analyse the H-1B work visa alternatives and we invite you to join us.  The webinar is FREE but space is limited so please register now.

Conclusion

Our office will continue to monitor developments relating to the H-1B program, this and next year’s caps and the immigration proposals.   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 with any of the H-1B visa alternative options, please feel free to contact us.