USCIS Completes Second FY 2024 H-1B Cap Selection Process
USCIS has completed the second FY 2024 H-1B cap registration lottery selection, and has notified employers of selection results. Employers will need to log into their H-1B cap registration accounts to learn which beneficiaries were selected. The petition filing period for H-1B cap selections in the second round is August 2 to October 31, 2023.
A closer look
USCIS has announced that it has completed the second Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 H-1B cap lottery selection process. Sponsoring employers and their attorneys have been notified of the selection results and are now able to view the status of their submissions in their registration accounts.
What’s next: review lottery results online
To learn the lottery results, attorneys and company authorized signatories need to access their myUSCIS.gov account and review the status of each beneficiary.
For each registered beneficiary, the USCIS online system will reflect one of the following statuses:
- Selected: The employer may file a FY 2024 H-1B cap petition for the beneficiary beginning August 2.
- Submitted: The beneficiary was not chosen in this lottery selection, but the beneficiary will remain in consideration for selection until the end of FY 2024, in the event that USCIS does not receive enough complete H-1B cap petitions during the next filing period to meet the annual quota. The employer may not file a FY 2024 cap petition for the beneficiary unless notified otherwise by USCIS.
- Denied: A duplicate registration was submitted by the employer for the same beneficiary. If a registration was denied as a duplicate, all of the employer’s registrations for that specific beneficiary are invalid.
- Invalidated – Failed Payment: A registration was submitted, but the payment method was declined, not reconciled, disputed, or otherwise invalid.
- Not selected: Not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.
H-1B cap petition filing runs from August 2 to October 31
Selection notices for the second lottery indicate an August 2 to October 31, 2023 petition filing period. All H-1B cap petitions must be submitted during this period for registrations selected in the second lottery.
Though in most cases a cap petition can be filed at any point during the filing period, some cases may need to be filed at specific times. If the beneficiary is an F-1 student working on optional practical training (OPT) who will need cap-gap protection, the petition must be filed before the individual’s OPT employment authorization document expires. If the beneficiary is awaiting completion or award of a required degree, the petition must not be filed until the degree has been issued or the beneficiary has obtained documentation from the appropriate school official that all degree requirements have been satisfied.
What this means for foreign nationals registered in the cap lottery
Your H-1B sponsoring employer and its immigration counsel will access the USCIS registration system to determine the outcome of the FY 2024 cap lottery. Employers will review selections and follow their agreed communication protocols for notification of selection. Please rest assured that you will be notified in due course. For those selected in the lottery, your employer’s immigration team will proceed with next steps for filing an H-1B petition with USCIS. If your registration was not selected, you can expect a communication and any related immigration strategy to follow from your employer’s immigration team.
Possibility of subsequent lottery selections
If a registration was not selected in this lottery, it will be held in the system and remain in consideration for selection in the event that, by October 31, USCIS does not receive a sufficient number of H-1B cap petitions to meet the 85,000 H-1B annual quota. Whether the agency will conduct a third lottery selection will depend on how many registrations were selected by USCIS in the second round, as well as how many H-1B petitions are submitted to USCIS by employers with registrations selected in the second drawing.
In last year’s H-1B cap season, USCIS conducted only one lottery selection, and there was therefore only one H-1B cap filing period, running from April 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022. In the two previous H-1B cap seasons, USCIS conducted more than one H-1B registration selection lottery. During the FY 2021 season, the agency conducted two drawings; during the FY2022 season, there were three lottery drawings.
What’s next
A company’s authorized registration signatory and immigration attorneys will need to log into the registration system to determine which beneficiaries have been selected, and obtain the USCIS selection notice for each such beneficiary.
To facilitate the submission of H-1B cap petitions, work closely with your immigration team so that essential supporting evidence, including company documentation, beneficiary educational documents, and other required documentation, can be collected promptly if it has not yet been gathered.