USCIS Runs Second Lottery for FY 2021 H-1B Applications

On July 29, 2021, USCIS has started notifying employers the results of a second round of selection for the H-1B lottery. Employers whose H-1B registrations that have been selected in the second round will have from August 2, 2021 to November 3, 2021 to submit their applications.

The second lottery is being conducted because the FY 2022 H-1B quota of 85,000 has not been reached. USCIS did not receive enough H-1B cap petitions to meet the quota during the initial filing period, which ran from April 1 to June 30, 2021.  In the initial FY 2022 lottery, USCIS drew just 87,500 of 308,613 registrations to meet the 85,000 quota, or 28% of the total number of registrations.  This was far lower than in 2020, when 24,415 registrations – or 45% – were selected from 274,237 FY 2021 H-1B cap registrations received. This means that of the 87,500 that were selected, less than 85,000 met the criteria for H-1B visas, withdrew, or were denied due to other reasons.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits a company to hire workers in specialty occupations.  This visa category requires that the beneficiary (the foreign worker) have a bachelor’s degree, and the petitioner (the U.S. company) can employ the worker for up to six years. To learn more about the H-1B visa, please click here. This year, employers submitted H-1B cap registrations for 308,613 beneficiaries this year, a 12% increase over the FY 2021 filing season.