The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has completed the two lotteries to choose the H-1B applications that will be processed this fiscal year. In total, USCIS received 190,098 H-1B cap petitions between April 2 and April 6, 2018, a 8,902 decrease in applications from last year. The first lottery was for the 20,000 cap exemption spots reserved for holders of U.S. advanced degrees. The second lottery was for the 45,000 spots for standard degrees or its equivalents, adding up to a total of 65,000 visas.
This year, standard cap filing has roughly a 45% chance of selection in the lottery. The advanced degree cases have a slight higher percentage chance because these filings get a second chance for selection if they are not chosen in the initial lottery.
Employers whose petitions are selected for processing should get filing receipts in the coming days, receipts will be mailed to petitioners or their attorneys by regular mail. Cases not selected in the lottery will be returned to applicants with their filing fees. The petitions that are selected will be adjudicated but do not expect results any time soon as premium processing has been suspended. To learn more about the H-1B visa and its requirements, please click here.
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