Clients often ask us to explain the long, complicated, and bureaucratic H-1B visa process, so we are sharing our H-1B flowchart to help you get an overview of the process.
We have also been getting many questions about this year’s H-1B lottery. Will there be one? How does it work? What are my chances?
We expect that, yes, there will be an H-1B lottery this year because of the tremendous demand for talent, our strong economy, and low unemployment. However, we expect to see a decrease in the H-1B filings primarily due to a decrease in filings from outsourcing firms that were placing H-1B workers on third party sites. This decrease will be counterbalanced with strong filings from US Masters students with offers of employment from US companies.
US Masters F-1 students will have the best chances at obtaining an H-1B visa based on the reversal of the lottery process. The new lottery order is expected to result in 16% more H-1Bs awarded to these students (or about 5,340 more).
USCIS is expected to conduct the lottery during the week of April 10. For the FY 2019 season, the lottery was done on April 11. We will provide updates to our clients as information become available.