USCIS Announces Second Lottery to be Conducted for FY2025 H-1B Cap
USCIS announced on July 30, 2024 that it will conduct a second lottery for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 H-1B Cap. A random selection (lottery) will be conducted from the registrations that were previously submitted during the initial registration period between March 6, 2024 to March 25, 2024.
In March 2024, USCIS announced that it completed the initial lottery selection to reach the FY2025 H-1B numerical allocations (H-1B cap). The filing period for those initially selected registrations was from April 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024 (a 90-day filing window).
In its most recent announcement on July 30, 2024, USCIS said it “recently determined that we would need to select additional registrations for unique beneficiaries to reach the FY 2025 regular cap numerical allocation. Soon, we will select additional registrations for unique beneficiaries from previously submitted electronic registrations using a random selection process, and we will notify prospective petitioners with selected registrations from this second round of selection that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration. We will announce when we have completed this second process of selections and notifications.”
This second round of selections will be conducted to meet the FY2025 regular cap numerical allocation only, since USCIS said the FY2025 master’s cap has already been fully allocated. Registrations that indicated master’s cap eligibility will also be considered, along with the regular cap-only pool, in this second round of selection.
Employers whose beneficiaries are selected in the upcoming second lottery round will have their myUSCIS accounts updated to reflect “Selected” and a selection notice attached. It is highly likely that USCIS will provide a 90-day filing window from date of selection.
McCown & Evans will continue to monitor the myUSCIS accounts of its employer clients for additional lottery selections and will provide additional updates as information is released. And, as always, reach out to your attorney at McCown & Evans with any questions.