H-1B Cap Random Selection for FY2018

According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), USCIS received approximately 199,000 H-1B petitions during the filing period for fiscal year 2018. The filing period began on April 3, 2017, and on April 7, 2017, USCIS announced that it had received enough petitions to meet the cap. Then on April 11, 2017, USCIS ran a computer program to complete a random selection process of petitions for the 65,000 general cap, and the cap of 20,000 for advanced degrees. All petitions that were not selected will be returned to the applicant, along with the filing fee.

USCIS first conducted the random selection process for the advanced degree cap of 20,000. After, all petitions that were not selected were included in the lottery for the general cap of 65,000.

USCIS will still accept and process petitions to:

• Extend H-1B status,
• Change employment terms for a current H-1B worker,
• Change employer for a current H-1B worker, or
• Allow a current H-1B worker to also work in another H-1B position at the same time.

For more information on the random selection process:

A press release from USCIS including this information can be found here.

Read more about the H-1B program here.