As of April 7, 2016 USCIS  reached the congressionally mandated H-1B cap for the fiscal year (FY) 2017. They received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed under the US advanced degree exemption and more than the 65,000 for the regular cap filings.  USCIS will use a computer-generated lottery to select the petitions that will proceed to adjudication.   Any unselected 20,000 U.S. advanced degree petitions will be entered into the lottery for the 65,000 regular cap filings.

Unselected petitions will be returned with the filing fees. Before the lottery process begins, USCIS will complete an initial intake for all filings received during the filing period. Due to the high number of petitions received, USCIS is not yet able to announce the date it will conduct the lottery. We will continue to post updates on our blog as the process advances.