U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced today that it has completed data entry for all H-1B cap-subject petitions for fiscal year 2020 that were selected in the lottery, including petitions selected under the U.S. advanced degree exemption.

Key points:

  • The agency will now begin returning all H-1B cap petitions that were not selected in the lottery, along with their filing fees.
  • USCIS did not provide a time frame for the return of unselected petitions, and will announce when it has finished notifying all unselected petitioners.

Background: USCIS received more than 200,000 H-1B cap petitions in the first week of April and conducted random lotteries on to select petitions under the general cap of 65,000 and the advanced-degree exemption of 20,000. Under a new regulation, the agency reversed the order of the general and advanced degree lotteries to give advanced degree holders better odds of being selected for adjudication.

BAL Analysis: Employers should anticipate receiving receipt notices for petitions that were selected or returned petitions for those that were not selected over the coming weeks. USCIS is asking that employers and individuals refrain from contacting the agency about the status of their case until they have either received a receipt notice or returned petition.     

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice group. For additional information, please contact berryapplemanleiden@bal.com.

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