U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has begun sending H-1B cap selection notices to myUSCIS accounts and will continue doing so over the next few days, the agency said Thursday.

  • The initial registration submission period for the fiscal year 2025 H-1B cap season closed at noon EDT on Monday, March 25.
  • USCIS began sending selection notices earlier this week and said Thursday it would continue to do so “over the next few days prior to April 1.” BAL will notify registrants of their selection status.
  • Petitioners with selected beneficiaries will be able to submit H-1B petitions beginning Monday, April 1. Monday is also the day the new USCIS fee rule is set to take effect; all petitions postmarked on or after April 1 must include the new fees or the agency will not accept them.

Background: Under a recently published regulation, the agency switched to a beneficiary-centric lottery this year, meaning each beneficiary can be selected only once, regardless of how many registrations were submitted on their behalf. While this change may lead to a higher selection rate, USCIS has not yet provided information on how many registrations were submitted or selected this year. BAL will provide updates as information becomes available.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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