US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has completed the second round of random selections for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap season, as of August 5, 2024. This second lottery process focused solely on regular H-1B cap-subject petitions, excluding the master’s cap.
Second Round Lottery Complete
USCIS has confirmed that it has received enough petitions to conduct this second lottery, drawing from the remaining properly submitted FY 2025 registrations. All prospective petitioners whose registrations were selected in this round have been notified by USCIS and are now eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the identified beneficiary.
Employers who have not received a selection notice through their MyUSCIS account by this time are unlikely to have been selected in the second lottery.
USCIS also reminded petitioners that H-1B cap-subject petitions must be filed at the correct location or online within the filing period specified in the selection notice. The filing period is at least 90 days, and a copy of the selection notice must be included with the FY 2025 H-1B petition.
The advanced degree or master’s cap, which allows for 20,000 petitions, was fully met during the initial filing period that ended on June 30, making a second lottery unnecessary for that category.
Why is a Second Lottery Needed?
USCIS conducts a second lottery round for the H-1B visa to ensure that all available visa slots are filled when the initial selection process does not result in enough approved petitions. The H-1B visa cap is limited to 65,000 regular visas, with an additional 20,000 for applicants holding a U.S. master’s degree or higher, enabling US companies to hire foreign workers for specialized roles in fields such as IT, accounting, architecture, medicine, and law.
After the first lottery, not all selected registrants may proceed to file a petition, or some petitions may be denied, withdrawn, or not filed, leading to unfilled slots. To address this, USCIS can opt to conduct a second lottery round to select additional registrants from the pool of unselected petitions. This helps ensure that the full quota of H-1B visas is utilized, maximizing the number of skilled workers who can take up US-based roles under the route. The second lottery increases the chances for those who were not selected in the first round, giving them another opportunity to obtain an H-1B visa.
Need Assistance?
If your organisation requires assistance with recruiting under the H-1B program, speak to our specialist US immigration attorneys.
Author
Founder & Principal Attorney Nita Nicole Upadhye is a recognized leader in the field of US business immigration law, (The Legal 500, Who's Who Legal and AILA) and an experienced and trusted advisor to large multinational corporates through to SMEs. She provides strategic immigration advice and specialist application support to corporations and professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, artists, actors and athletes from across the globe to meet their US-bound talent mobility needs.
Nita is an active public speaker, thought leader, immigration commentator, and immigration policy contributor and regularly hosts training sessions for employers and HR professionals.
