Preparing for the Upcoming FY2025 H-1B Cap Season

It’s that time of the year again — as many of our clients are aware, H-1B cap season is just around the corner. We will be reaching out to all clients over the next several weeks to confirm any employees to submit for consideration in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025) H-1B cap lottery.

How the H-1B Cap Lottery Works

There is an annual limit (the “cap”) on the number of new H-1Bs granted each government fiscal year. A total of 85,000 new H-1Bs are allocated annually, with 20,000 of these reserved for persons who have graduated from U.S universities with advanced degrees (the “Master’s Cap”), and 6,900 allocated to nationals of Singapore and Chile pursuant to Free Trade Agreements with those countries. As has been the case for over 10 years, the demand for new H-1Bs has far exceeded the number of available slots, and the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has accordingly conducted a random selection process (the “cap lottery”) to determine which H-1Bs will be processed under its quota.

Starting with the FY2021 H-1B cap season, the USCIS implemented a new online registration process for employers to submit their prospective H-1B workers for consideration in the lottery. If the USCIS receives more online registrations than available H-1B slots, which is expected, the USCIS will conduct a lottery to select from the pool of registrants. Employers may then file an H-1B petition on behalf of the registrants selected in this process.

As noted above, we will be reaching out individually to each client over the coming weeks to confirm which employees to include on the FY2025 cap list. Please do not hesitate to contact one of our attorneys or specialists with any questions. You may visit our FY2025 H-1B Cap FAQs to read more about the upcoming H-1B cap lottery.