United States: H-1B Cap Is Reached for FY 2023
August 23, 2022
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At a glance
- USCIS today announced that it has received enough H-1B cap petitions to fill the 85,000 slots available for the coming fiscal year, which begins October 1.
- In March of this year, USCIS selected 127,600 cap registrations to meet the quota, or approximately 26% of the total number of registrations received. Employers had until June 30, 2022 to submit petitions for registrants selected in the lottery.
- The agency will not run a second cap lottery for H-1B employment in FY 2023.
A closer look
USCIS has received enough petitions to meet the annual H-1B quota of 85,000 for Fiscal Year 2023, according to an announcement issued today. In recent days, sponsoring employers began to receive USCIS notices indicating that the status of remaining FY 2023 registrations in the H-1B cap online system had moved from “submitted” to “not selected.”
The announcement means that USCIS will not conduct a second cap lottery for H-1B employment in FY 2023. In March, employers submitted 483,927 registrations for the FY 2023 quota, an increase of approximately 57% over the prior year. USCIS selected 127,600 of these registrations to meet the quota, or approximately 26% of the total. USCIS typically selects more petitions than are needed to meet the annual H-1B quota, to account for selected registrations for which no petition is ultimately filed, as well as cases that are denied, rejected, withdrawn, or revoked.
During the FY 2022 cap season, USCIS received registrations on behalf of 308,613 foreign nationals and selected a total of 131,970, for an overall selection rate near 42%. To reach this number, the agency conducted three lottery drawings between March and November 2021. In FY 2021, the agency ran two lottery drawings to reach the cap.
What this means for employers and foreign nationals
The USCIS announcement means that there are no further opportunities for cap-subject H-1B employment in FY 2023, though USCIS continues to accept petitions for employment that is not subject to the cap, including extensions of stay, changes of employer, amended petitions, and employment that is exempt from the annual quota.
Foreign nationals whose registrations were not selected can be re-registered by a sponsoring employer when the FY 2024 cap season begins in Spring 2023. Unselected registrations are not automatically carried over to the next fiscal year.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
