USCIS Runs Second Lottery to Select More FY 2021 H-1B Cap Cases

The issue

USCIS today began notifying employers and their immigration counsel of the results of a second selection lottery for the FY 2021 H-1B cap. Employers whose H-1B registrations are selected in the second drawing will have from August 17 to November 16, 2020, to submit their petitions.

The second lottery is being conducted because the FY 2021 H-1B quota of 85,000 has not been reached. USCIS did not receive enough H-1B cap petitions to meet the quota during the initial filing period, which ran from April 1 to June 30, 2020.

It is not yet known how many additional registrations are being selected in the second drawing.  USCIS is expected to issue an official announcement of second lottery, which could disclose the number of H-1B quota slots that remain available.

Employers are not required to take any action to be included in the second lottery. USCIS is selecting from among the thousands of H-1B registrations that were filed during the March 2020 registration period but not selected in the initial lottery.

How to determine whether a case has been selected

An employer whose registration is newly selected will receive a USCIS email indicating that action has been taken on its case. The employer or its immigration counsel must log into the H-1B cap registration system and print out a selection notice for the case. The notice will inform the employer of the filing deadline and the specific USCIS filing location. The notice must be included when the employer files a complete H-1B cap petition for the registration.

Fragomen is closely monitoring the new FY 2021 cap selection and will provide updates as more information becomes available.

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