The FY 2019 H-1B Cap Has Been Reached

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At a glance

• The annual quota of 85,000 new H-1B petitions was exceeded in the first five business days of the filing period for employment in FY 2019.
• In the coming days, USCIS will conduct a computerized lottery to choose enough H-1B petitions to result in 85,000 approvals.

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​A closer look

USCIS has announced that the annual limit for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 H-1B cap employment has been met. The agency should continue to accept cap filings through today but will reject any cap-subject cases received April 7 or later.

Since April 2, employers have submitted more than enough petitions to meet the quota of 65,000 standard H-1B cap numbers and the cap exemption of 20,000 for holders of U.S. advanced degrees. The precise number of cap filings has not yet been disclosed.

Employers will not be able to file any further H-1B cap petitions until April 1, 2019. The agency will continue to accept petitions that are not subject to the cap, including extensions, changes of employer, amendments, concurrent employment for existing H-1B workers, and petitions filed by organizations that by law are exempt from the cap.

What’s next: the cap lotteries

In the coming days, USCIS will run two lotteries to choose the FY 2019 cases that will be processed to completion.

One lottery will be used to select enough cases to meet the advanced-degree cap exemption of 20,000. The other lottery will select enough filings to fill the standard quota of 65,000 and will include both regular cases and otherwise unselected advanced-degree cases.

Receipting and adjudication

Employers whose petitions are selected for processing should begin to get filing receipts within weeks after the lotteries are run. Receipting could continue for several days or weeks after it begins. Receipts will be mailed to petitioners (or their attorneys) by regular mail. Cases not selected in the lottery will be returned to petitioners with their filing fees, but the timing of returns is not yet known. 

What this means for employers

Employers and foreign nationals should be prepared to wait up to several weeks to learn whether their petitions were accepted in the H-1B cap lotteries. If any of your organization’s cap filings are not chosen, your Fragomen team can assist in identifying alternatives for affected employees.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.