H-1B Update: No Lottery This Year, USCIS Still Accepts Cap-Subject H-1Bs

The USCIS announced today (April 8, 2009) that within the first five business days, it received almost half the petitions needed to meet the FY2010 cap and has received just short of the 20,000 needed to reach the master’s cap.  This means that there will be no general H-1B lottery this year for both master’s and regular H-1B filings.

As a result, USCIS continues to accept H-1B nonimmigrant visa petitions subject to the FY2010 cap.  USCIS will continue to monitor the number of H-1B petitions received for both the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 U.S. master’s degree or higher educational exemption cap.  Should USCIS receive the necessary number of petitions to meet the respective caps, it will issue an update to advise the public that, as of a certain date (the “final receipt date”), the respective FY 2010 H-1B caps have been met.  The final receipt date will be based on the date USCIS physically receives the petition, not the date that the petition is postmarked. The date or dates USCIS informs the public that the respective caps have been reached may differ from the actual final receipt date.

To ensure a fair system, USCIS may randomly select the number of petitions required to reach the numerical limit from the petitions received as of the final receipt date. USCIS will reject cap subject petitions that are not selected, as well as those received after the final receipt date.

Since the H-1B filing window is still open (but may close at any time with no advance notice), we still accept FY2010 cap-subject H-1B petitions.  Please contact us if we can help you.