On April 7, 2016, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it reached the statutory cap of H-1B petitions for fiscal year (FY) 2017.

As predicted, the USCIS received a heavy demand for the current H-1B cap. Similar to the last three years (FY 2014, 2015, and 2016), the H-1B cap was reached within the first five business days of April, triggering the H-1B lottery. Under the lottery, all H-1B filings received over the first five business days are subject to a random lottery to determine which of these H-1B applications will be counted and included under the cap.