On Monday of this week, USCIS announced that it had received sufficient cap-subject H-1B petitions during the first five days of filing to trigger the H-1B lottery. Today (April 10, 2014), USCIS announced that they have completed the random selection process, and that they had received 172,500 cap-subject H-1B petitions. They did not specify exactly how many of those were for the U.S. master's degree cap vs. the "regular" cap.

H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions Filed by Sumner Immigration Law - FY2015

What Is the H-1B Lottery Process?

USCIS conducts the U.S. master's degree lottery first. All cases not selected in that lottery are then included in the lottery for the "regular" H-1B cap.

When Will We Know the H-1B Lottery Results?

USCIS has not provided a timeline about when to expect the H-1B receipt notices for the cases that were selected. They have indicated that premium processing for the H-1B cap will begin April 28th. This is the general process that will follow the H-1B lottery:

- USCIS will mail the receipt notice for selected cases to the employer and to the attorney of record (if any)

- USCIS will return cases not selected in the H-1B to the attorney of record, or to the employer if there is no attorney. This package will also include any USCIS filing fees.

- Last year, we received receipt notices slowly at first starting around April 15th (but the lottery was completed as of 4/8 last year). Receipts are sent through the U.S. mail, so it may be some time before we receive all receipts.

- For Sumner Immigration Law clients: we will notify the employer as soon as we receive the receipt notice (or returned package for cases not selected in the lottery). We recognize that this is tremendously important to employees and employers alike, and will continue to work diligently to keep you updated.

Please keep in mind that H-1B extensions and transfers are not subject to the H-1B cap. Further, if you have previously been counted against the H-1B cap, it's possible that you may not be subject again.

For more information about the H-1B process, please check out this page. Need assistance with an H-1B filing, or other employment-based or family-based immigration process? Please contact us at 804-396-3412 or esumner@sumnerimmigration.com. We look forward to hearing from you!