It has been announced by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS that they have received enough petitions to meet the cap for H-1B visas.
So, can more people apply or will they be rejected?
A congressional cap of 65,000 H-1B visas for regular applicants and an additional 20,000 visas for US advanced degree holders have been mandated by the US government.
The agency has informed that it will send out non-selection notices to registered candidates through their online accounts. The status later will read, “Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration” once the notifications are complete.
The H-1B cap lottery comes into the picture after the applications exceed the annual cap set by the US government. After that, a lottery system is used to process the petitions.
The deadline for submitting H-1B cap petitions was June 30 2024 but since the date fell on a Sunday, properly registered petitions received on July 1, 2024 would also be considered on time.
However, USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that have been exempted from the cap.
“We 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,” the USCIS said.
The visa lottery is a complex process and should be followed through with detail. It is advisable to keep track of the notifications sent by USCIS and not miss important deadlines or information.
Usually the majority of H-1B visa holders are Indians (72.3% of the total 386,000 H-1B visas issued), however USCIS data shows a decline in sponsorships across major firms such as Google, Amazon, Infosys and IBM.
