USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Lottery for FY 2016

USCIS Completes the H-1B Cap Lottery for FY 2016

On April 13, 2015, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it received 233,000 H-1B petitions during the fiscal year (FY) 2016 filing period, which began on April 1, 2015. On April 13, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process, or lottery, to select enough petitions to meet the 65,000 general-category cap and the 20,000 cap under the advanced degree exemption.

The agency conducted the selection process for the advanced degree exemption first. All unselected advanced degree petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.

H-1B petitions that are accepted in the lottery will receive a “receipt notice” by mail from USCIS. H-1B petitions that are rejected will returned to the employer (or the immigration law firm), along with uncashed filing fee checks. It will likely take until the end of May 2015 to know for certain if a particular H-1B petition has been selected in the random lottery, or has been rejected.

USCIS also announced that it will begin premium processing for H-1B cap cases no later than May 11, 2015. This means that the receipt notices for H-1B cap filings requesting premium processing that are selected in the lottery should be sent out by USCIS by May 11 at the latest (premium processing receipts are usually sent by USCIS by email as well as in hard copy).

McCown & Evans will promptly notify employers and H-1B beneficiaries as soon as a receipt notice or rejection has been received in a particular case.

USCIS will continue to accept and process H-1B petitions that are otherwise “exempt” from the cap. Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap will also not be counted toward the FY 2016 H-1B cap. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;
Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position.

Please contact your legal team at McCown & Evans LLP with further questions.
Disclaimer

This information is for general use only. You should consult a licensed attorney for legal analysis and advice regarding the specific details of your case.