U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received a record-breaking 233,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions during the filing period, which began April 1.  USCIS has already conducted its computer-generated random selection process (the “lottery”), and Dayzad Law Offices is beginning to receive notifications of cases that were selected for an H-1B visa number this year!  The staggering number of submitted petitions represents a 35 percent increase over last year’s 172,500 applications.

According to USCIS’s recent tallies, about 63.5 percent of the H-1B petitions received will be rejected for processing due to lack of H-1B visa numbers.  Individuals with U.S. Master’s degrees may have had slightly better chances because 20,000 H-1Bs are set aside each year for these applicants.

Applicants that won an H-1B visa number in the lottery will receive notification from USCIS in the coming weeks.  Petitions that were not selected for the lottery will be returned in the next few months.  Until the receipt notice or rejection package is received, it is not possible to know whether any particular case has been accepted for processing.

On April 27, 2015, USCIS will begin premium processing for cap-subject H-1B petitions. Applicants who paid the additional premium processing fee and requested this service will receive a response from the government regarding their applications within 15 calendar days of April 27.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are exempt from the cap (for example, petitions submitted by U.S. universities). Petitions filed on behalf of current H-1B workers who have already received an H-1B visa number will also not be counted towards the congressionally mandated H-1B cap. For example, USCIS will continue to accept and process the following types of petitions:

  • Petitions to extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States
  • Petitions to change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers
  • Petitions to allow current H-1B workers to change employers
  • Petitions to allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in a second H-1B position
  • Visas very similar to H-1Bs are also available for citizens of Australia, Chile, and Singapore

The annual H-1B cap is set by Congress.  The record-breaking number of H-1B petitions submitted this year show that many U.S. employers need talented foreign nationals to contribute to the growth of their organizations.  We hope that this momentum will put the task of raising the H-1B cap on the to-do list for Congress in order to meet the overwhelming H-1B demand.