FY2023 H-1B Cap Reached Without Subsequent Lottery Rounds and Selections

USCIS announced that as of August 23, 2022 they have reached the H-1B cap limit for fiscal year 2023 (FY 2023).  This means that they will not be conducting additional lottery rounds of selection like they have been doing in past years; this also means that all H-1B cap registrants who were not selected under the first round are now considered as “Not-selected.”

Historically High Number of Applicants and First Round Selections Means No Additional Lottery Rounds

For FY2023 USCIS received 483,927 H-1B registrations and initially selected 127,600 registrations.   USCIS had projected that this number of selections will likely be sufficient to fill the available 85,000 H-1B visas.  We understand that USCIS selected a higher number of registrations under the initial lottery round this year in order to receive close to 85,000 applications by June 30th.    By comparison, during last year’s (FY2022) cap season, USCIS selected 87,500 applications under the initial round and since not every selected H-1B registrant ended up filing a petition, USCIS had to conduct second and third lottery rounds.

H-1B Cap Alternatives

Many H-1B cap registrants who were not selected  under the first round this year will be disappointed by the fact that this year there will be no additional selection rounds like in prior years.

Now that the H-1B quota has been reached, we are receiving an increasing number of inquiries by both cap-subject employers and prospective employees about the alternatives – we invite you to review our guide with the most common H-1B cap visa alternatives.

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.