On April 11, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the completion of its “computer-generated” random selection process used to select H-1B petitions for the congressionally-mandated cap filing season for fiscal year (FY) 2019. USCIS previously announced on April 6, 2018, that it had reached the statutory cap of 65,000 H-1B petitions and the master’s cap of 20,000 petitions.
USCIS received a total of 190,098 H-1B petitions during this year’s filing period, which began on April 2, 2018. USCIS will now begin the process of rejecting and returning all unselected petitions with their filing fees.
Employers may continue to file other H-1B petitions on behalf of workers that are exempt from the H-1B cap, including the following:
- Change of employer petitions allowing H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap to change employers;
- Petitions extending the time of current H-1B workers so they may stay in the United States; and
- Amended petitions to change the terms of approved employment for current H-1B workers.
In the meantime, employers and beneficiaries of H-1B cap petitions should stay tuned. Ogletree Deakins’ Immigration Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and report on updates as they occur.
