US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received enough petitions for H-1B specialty occupation visas coveted by Indians to reach the annual limit of 85,000 for fiscal year 2024.
These Include the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and 20,000 H-1B visa US advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, the agency announced Wednesday.
In recent years, Indians have cornered more than 70% of H-1B visas used by US businesses to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations
READ: What is ‘aging out’ for H-1B visa dependents? (October 25, 2023)
USCIS received more than 780,000 employer registrations for the visas this year, with more than half of them submitted on behalf of workers with multiple registrations.
The announcement means that USCIS will not conduct a third cap lottery selection for H-1B employment in the current fiscal year.
Earlier this year, USCIS conducted two separate lottery selections, in March in which 110,791 registrations (or 14.6%) were selected, and in July when 77,609 were chosen, to get enough cap registrations to meet the quota. As a result, the overall selection rate for FY 2024 eligible registrations was 24.8%
In March, employers submitted a record 758,994 cap registrations for the FY 2024 quota, an increase of 60% over the prior year, amid concerns that some organizations were attempting to misuse the registration system on behalf of individuals who were the beneficiaries of multiple registrations.
READ: Vivek Ramaswamy repeats resolve to gut H-1B visa system (September 18, 2023)
This prompted USCIS to begin investigations and prepare referrals to law enforcement in cases of suspected fraud.
During the FY 2023 cap season, employers submitted 483,927 registrations for the FY 2023 quota, an increase of approximately 57% over the prior year. USCIS selected 127,600 of these registrations to meet the quota, or approximately 26% of the total.
USCIS said will send non-selection notices to registrants through their online accounts over the next few days. When it finishes sending these non-selection notifications, the status for properly submitted registrations that USCIS did not select for the FY 2024 H-1B numerical allocations will show: Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.
READ: White House asks Congress to revamp outdated H-1B visa program (August 29, 2023)
USCIS said it will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap such as those for jobs at colleges and universities or research institutions.
Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, are exempt from the FY 2024 H-1B cap.
USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:
Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States;
Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in additional H-1B positions.