The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced a second lottery for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B regular cap category. This comes after an initial selection process conducted in March. USCIS explained that this additional lottery is necessary to ensure that the FY 2025 regular cap allocation is met by selecting more unique beneficiaries.
Last month, USCIS stated that they would be selecting additional registrations from previously submitted electronic registrations using a random selection process. Prospective petitioners with selected registrations from this second round of selection will be notified that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration.
In March, USCIS conducted an initial random selection for FY 2025 H-1B cap registrations, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. However, the second lottery selection will not include beneficiaries under the master’s cap. USCIS clarified that enough master’s cap registrations were already selected, and sufficient petitions were received based on those registrations to meet the FY 2025 masters cap numerical allocation.
The second round of selection for the regular cap will consist of previously submitted registrations that indicated eligibility for the master’s cap along with those that indicated only eligibility for the regular cap. Individuals with selected registrations will receive a selection notice on their USCIS online accounts.
Last year, the agency registered a significant increase of 61 per cent in H-1B applications, with a total of 780,884 submissions for FY 2024. The H-1B visa program allows employers in the US to bring in internationally qualified workers if they cannot find employees in the US, helping to fill labor shortage gaps.
