On April 11, 2018, the USCIS completed the selection process for the FY 2019 H-1B CAP petitions using a computer-generated random selection process. USCIS received 190,098 H-1B petitions during the filing period between April 2nd and April 6th. The selection process for the Master’s cap was conducted first and all unselected Master’s cap petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 cap.
USCIS announced it reached the congressionally-mandated 65,000 H-1B visa cap for fiscal year 2019 and received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap on April 6. The agency will reject and return filing fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that are not considered prohibited multiple filings per Matter of S- Inc., which determined USCIS will deny or revoke the approval of all H-1B cap-subject petitions filed by “related entities” for the same beneficiary for substantially the same job.
Please note this selection does not affect petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. The USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted against the cap previously.
We will notify you about whether your petition was selected or rejected once we receive correspondence from the USCIS.
Please reach out to your Greenspoon Marder LLP Immigration & Naturalization Practice Group attorney for any further questions or concerns.