USCIS Announces Plan to Conduct Second Lottery Selection from Existing FY 2024 H-1B Cap Registrations

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will conduct a second round of random selections from the existing pool of H-1B cap registrations for fiscal year 2024 (FY24). The selection will take place “soon,” and the employers with selected registrations are expected to receive notification once the process has been completed.

The initial round of selections for the FY24 H-1B cap was conducted in March 2023, and employers with selected registrations were notified of their eligibility to file H 1B cap-subject petitions from April 1, 2023 through June 30, 2023. After this filing window closed, the USCIS determined that it would need to select additional registrations to reach the FY24 numerical cap of 85,000 new H-1B visas (including for 20,000 beneficiaries who hold an advanced degree from an accredited U.S. college or university).

The USCIS will conduct the second round of selections from existing electronic registrations, which were properly submitted during the initial registration process in March 2023 and were not selected in the first selection. Employers who properly registered their intended beneficiaries do not need to take any further action for these registrations to be eligible for selections. New registrations will not be accepted.

The USCIS has not announced when the new selection process will take place, but will notify employers with selected registrations once it has been completed. The notice will specify a new filing period for registrations selected during the second round.

Stay tuned for further Vorys Immigration Alerts on this and other related topics. If you have any questions regarding the second round of selections for the upcoming fiscal year’s H-1B cap registrations, or any other visa or immigration matter, we encourage you to contact your Vorys attorney.