USCIS have finished returning unselected H-1B petitions that were not selected in the FY2020 cap lottery. Employers should receive petition packages and fee checks by August 29, 2019. This year, USCIS received 201,011 filings in the week between April 1 and April 5, which is an increase of 10,913 petitions from last year.
USCIS continues to adjudicate pending cap cases and to issue requests for evidence (RFEs). The sooner an RFE response is submitted, the greater the likelihood the case will be decided in time for an October 1, 2019 H-1B employment start date. Starting next year, USCIS will implement an online lottery system where applicants will be picked online before their applications have to be mailed in to reduce the amount of paperwork USCIS has to process. To learn more about the proposed changes, please click here. For information about the current H-1B cap procedure, please click here. To learn more about the H-1B visa and your eligibility, please click here. To learn more about options for working in the U.S. other than H-1B visas, please click here.
