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August 6, 2024

FY 2025 H-1B CAP UPDATE: USCIS COMPLETES SECOND LOTTERY/RANDOM SELECTION PROCESS

Yesterday, August 5, 2024, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has completed the second H-1B lottery (random selection process) by selecting a sufficient number of FY 2025 H-1B registrations.

USCIS recently announced that additional registrations were needed to meet the FY 2025 H-1B regular cap numerical allocation.

Based on USCIS projections, they have now randomly selected a sufficient number of unique beneficiaries from the remaining properly submitted FY 2025 registrations to reach the regular cap. All prospective petitioners with selected registrations from this round have been notified that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the named beneficiary in the applicable selected registration.

The filing period for the H-1B cap-subject petition will be at least 90 days. H-1B cap petitions for selected registrations can be filed between August 8, 2024 and November 7, 2024.

Petitioners must include a copy of the applicable selection notice when filing the FY 2025 H-1B cap petition.

An H-1B cap petition must be properly filed at the correct filing location or online at my.uscis.gov  and within the filing period indicated on the relevant selection notice.

Only petitioners with selected registrations may file H-1B cap petitions for FY 2025, and only for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration notice.

Note that USCIS did not conduct a second selection for the advanced degree exemption (the H-1B master’s cap), as enough master’s cap registrations had already been selected, and sufficient petitions were received to meet the master’s cap numerical allocation.

Registration selection only relates to eligibility to file an H-1B cap petition. Petitioners/U.S. employers filing H-1B cap petitions must still establish eligibility for petition approval based on existing statutory and regulatory requirements.

As a reminder, on January 31, 2024, USCIS published a final rule adjusting the fees required for most immigration applications and petitions. The new fees are effective as of April 1, 2024. The H-1B cap petitions must include the new fees, or they will not be accepted.

Additionally, there is a new 04/01/24 edition of Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. Only the 04/01/24 edition of this form will be accepted by USCIS.

Further, note that USCIS recently announced a final premium processing fee rule that increased the filing fee for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, to adjust for inflation, effective February 26, 2024.

The premium fee for all available Form I–129 classifications (E–1, E–2, E–3, H–1B, H–3, L–1A, L–1B, LZ, O–1, O–2, P–1, P– 1S, P–2, P–2S, P–3, P–3S, Q–1, TN–1, and TN–2) changed from $2,500 to $2,805.

HSD Immigration Lawyer will continue to monitor and share additional updates as USCIS releases any more information. Contact one of HSD Immigration Lawyer offices in Clark, NJ; Chicago, IL; Naperville, IL or Raleigh, NC, for additional information about this recent announcement and for filing  an H-1B cap petition for FY 2025.