On April 6th, USCIS announced that the cap of 85,000 new H-1B visas for FY2019 was met. They received a total of 190,098 H-1B cap petitions, 95,885 of which are master’s cap petitions.
If you submitted a petition, you may be wondering, “What happens now? When will I know if mine is selected?”
USCIS takes several weeks to months to notify which cases are selected in the lottery.
Here is an overview of the process USCIS goes through:
- Process and issue receipt notices for cases selected in the lottery. This typically takes weeks to months, with the first notifications being received at the end of April and then ending around end of May / June.
- Return cases that were not selected in the lottery. Rejected cap cases begin to be returned in July and typically continue through August.
- Process and adjudicate the cases selected in the lottery. Adjudications begin after receipts are issued and typically continue through September or October. Last year, it continued until February of this year.
- Issue a Request for Evidence (RFE). This was a significant and arbitrary burden last year. If you receive one, you will need to prepare to promptly provide additional facts or documentation to USCIS.
In 2017, there was a high number of RFEs, and many expect that to be the case again. We worked diligently and strategically to respond with strong legal arguments and evidence last year, which resulted in approvals. We are prepared and determined to do the same this year.