By: Jacqueline Valle and Toni Ordona

Employers submitted 483,927 registrations for selection in the fiscal year (FY) 2023 H-1B cap lottery. This is about 57% more than employers filed in the FY 2022 lottery.

For FY 2023, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) selected about 26% of total H-1B registrations, or 127,600, to meet its annual H-1B quota of 85,000. During previous fiscal years, USCIS selected a higher percentage of registrations during the initial selection round. In FY 2022, USCIS selected 28%, or 87,500 registrations, from a total of 308,613. After the two additional selection periods, FY 2022 had a 42% selection rate with 131,970 total registrations selected in the lottery.

SECOND AND THIRD SELECTION ROUNDS

To account for denied, rejected, withdrawn, and revoked cases, USCIS selects more petitions than needed to meet its annual quota. However, when the initial selection does meet the number of available visas, second and third selection rounds are conducted to meet the quota. In the FY 2022 cap season there were three lottery selections in March, July, and November 2021.

It is not known whether USCIS will conduct more H-1B cap registrations selections. For those selected, petitions must be received by USCIS on June 30, 2022. USCIS will conduct one or more additional lottery selections after June 30 if it does not receive enough petitions to meet the annual H-1B quota.

CONCLUSION

The Chugh, LLP Immigration team will provide updates to the FY 2023 H-1B lottery selection process as soon as they become available. For assistance in filing an H-1B petition, please contact your Chugh, LLP legal professional.