On August 5, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had completed the much-anticipated second round of the annual H-1B registration lottery. USCIS also confirmed that the agency had notified all prospective petitioners with selected registrations from this round that they were eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions between August 8, 2024, and November 7, 2024.
Quick Hits
- USCIS projections now indicate that the agency has selected a sufficient number of registrations to reach the annual quota for fiscal year (FY) 2025.
- USCIS previously announced that the annual advanced degree exemption (i.e., master’s cap) quota had already been reached during the initial selection process.
- USCIS selected 13,607 beneficiaries resulting in 14,534 selected registrations during the second lottery.
As background, the annual availability of new H-1B visas is limited to 85,000 per fiscal year, with 20,000 H-1B visas set aside under the “advanced degree exemption” for beneficiaries who have earned a U.S. master’s degree or higher.
The new selections were taken from the existing pool of H-1B registrations submitted during the March 2024 H-1B registration period. Because USCIS had already selected sufficient H-1B registrations pursuant to the advanced degree exemption, all registrations selected in the second lottery were taken from the full registration pool, which included both those eligible only for the “regular cap” and those eligible for the “master’s cap.” A second, separate lottery was not conducted solely for beneficiaries eligible under the advanced degree exemption.
Next Steps
Results of the second lottery may be viewed on employers’ MyUSCIS accounts. The window to file H-1B petitions for those selected in the second round is August 8, 2024, to November 7, 2024.
