At a glance
- USCIS has now selected a sufficient number of H-1B registrations for unique beneficiaries to reach the FY 2025 regular cap of 65,000 and has notified employers of new selections.
- The agency had already made enough selections in the first round to exhaust the cap exemption for 20,000 beneficiaries holding U.S. advanced degrees.
- USCIS has not yet specified how many additional registrations were chosen in the second lottery drawing.
The issue
USCIS announced today that it has completed a second lottery of properly submitted FY 2025 H-1B cap petitions to meet the regular cap of 65,000. Employers and their counsel should review their H-1B registration accounts to determine whether they have received any additional selections; cap petitions for newly selected registrations must be filed within the timeframe specified in the official selection notice.
A closer look
During the FY 2025 H-1B cap registration period, USCIS received registrations for approximately 442,000 unique beneficiaries. Of these, 114,017 beneficiaries – or approximately 25.8% of those registered – were selected in the initial round against the 85,000 quota. USCIS received enough petitions in the first round to meet the cap exemption for 20,000 U.S. advanced-degree holders, but did not receive enough petitions to meet the regular cap of 65,000. USCIS has not yet specified how many beneficiaries were selected in the second lottery drawing.
USCIS normally selects more registrations (this year, more unique beneficiaries) than needed to meet the annual quota, to account for cases for which no petition is ultimately filed, as well as cases that are denied, rejected, withdrawn, or revoked.
Employers were not required to take any action to be included in the second lottery. USCIS selected from among the H-1B registrations that were filed during the March 2024 registration period but not chosen in the initial lottery drawing.
How to determine whether a case has been selected in the second lottery drawing
An employer whose beneficiary is newly selected will see the beneficiary's registration status change from "Submitted" to "Selected" in their myUSCIS online account. The employer may also receive a USCIS email indicating that action has been taken. The employer or its immigration counsel must log into the H-1B cap registration system and print out a selection notice for the case. The notice will inform the employer of the petition filing deadline. The notice must be included when the employer files a complete H-1B cap petition for the beneficiary.
Fragomen is closely monitoring the second FY 2025 cap selection and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.