USCIS Completes FY2024 H-1B Cap Selection Process
On March 27, 2023, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it completed the initial H-1B Cap selection process for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. The USCIS randomly selected from properly submitted registrations to meet the annual H-1B numerical allocations under the regular cap and U.S. master’s cap. The USCIS confirms it has notified all prospective petitioners via their online accounts about their selection results.
USCIS has updated registrants’ online accounts with one of the following statuses for each submitted registration:
Selected:The registration is eligible to file an H-1B cap petition.
Submitted:Although the initial selection process has been completed, this registration remains eligible, unless subsequently invalidated, for any subsequent selections for FY2024.
Denied:Multiple registrations were submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for the same beneficiary. If denied as a duplicate registration, all registrations submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for this beneficiary for FY2024 are invalid.
Invalidated-Failed Payment: A registration was submitted but the payment method was declined, not reconciled, disputed, or otherwise invalid.
The USCIS has yet to announce the total number of submitted or selected registrations for FY2024. However, based on initial selection results, this is the lowest H-1B cap selection rate ever seen for both the regular cap and the U.S. master’s cap.
Normally, the USCIS selects more registrations than the statutory number of 85,000, anticipating that employers may not proceed with some selected registrations, and some filed petitions may be denied. At this time, it is unclear if and by how much the USCIS ‘over selected’ the registrations, and whether there may be additional lottery selections later in the year. For comparison, in FY2021 and FY2022, the USCIS conducted additional lottery selections after June 30 to ensure they used all the 85,000 H-1B allocations. However, for FY2023 USCIS over-selected a higher number of registrations during the March registration period and no additional lottery selections were made later in the year. This may be the case again this year.
Next Steps
For selected beneficiaries, the filing window for the H-1B petition began on April 1, 2023. As noted on the USCIS selection notices, petitioners will have 90 days to file the H-1B cap petitions on behalf of their selected beneficiaries. Goeschl Law Corporation will reach out to our selected clients to notify them of the selection and the next steps in the process.
For beneficiaries not selected in the initial selection process, Goeschl Law Corporation will reach out to the beneficiaries and petitioners with information about available immigration options. Goeschl Law Corporation will also continue to monitor the FY2024 H-1B cap process and notify our clients if USCIS conducts any additional selections.