United States: Nearly 484,000 Registrations Were Received for the FY 2023 H-1B Cap, USCIS Reveals
April 15, 2022
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At a glance
- Employers submitted 483,927 H-1B cap registrations this year, an approximate 57% increase over the FY 2022 filing season.
- USCIS selected 127,600 FY 2023 registrations to meet the H-1B quota, or approximately 26% of the total registrations. During the FY 2022 season, USCIS selected a total of 131, 970 registrations in three lottery drawings, for an overall selection rate near 42% for the fiscal year. It is not yet known whether USCIS will conduct further selections of cap registrations, as it has in prior years.
- USCIS is accepting H-1B cap petitions on behalf of selected FY 2023 beneficiaries through June 30, 2022.
A closer look
During the FY 2023 H-1B cap registration period, employers submitted 483,927 registrations for selection in the cap lottery, approximately 57% more than in the FY 2022 filing season. Approximately 31% of all eligible registrations requested consideration under the advanced degree exemption for the H-1B cap. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has selected 127,600 FY 2023 registrations to meet the annual quota of 85,000, or approximately 26% of the total number of registrations.
This year’s lottery chose a lower percentage of registrations in comparison to the initial selection last year. During the FY 2022 season, 87,500 registrations – or 28% – were selected in the initial cap lottery, from 308,613 total registrations received. However, after two subsequent FY 2022 lotteries were run, there was a total of 131,970 selected registrations for FY 2022, making the rate of selection closer to 42% for the fiscal year.
Are further cap selections possible for FY 2023?
USCIS typically selects more petitions than are needed to meet the annual H-1B quota, to account for cases that are denied, rejected, withdrawn, or revoked. But in each year thus far since implementation of the H-1B cap registration system, the agency has under-selected the number of registrations in the initial lottery, and received a lower volume of cap petitions in response, requiring it to conduct more than one lottery selection to meet the annual quota. As noted above, in the FY 2022 cap season, USCIS conducted lottery selections in March, July, and November 2021 from the pool of 308,613 H-1B registrations.
It is not known whether USCIS will conduct further H-1B cap registration selections, as it has in prior years. If the number of FY 2023 petitions received by USCIS by June 30 – the close of the filing period – falls short of the quota, the agency is expected to conduct a further selection this year.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
