H-1B Visa: US immigration office announces 2nd lottery round for this year
H-1B Visa: The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has revealed that a second round of random lottery selection for H-1B visas will be conducted for fiscal year 2024. The decision comes after the agency determined that more "additional registrations" need to be selected to meet the numerical allocations. This move could potentially benefit more Indian professionals seeking H-1B visas.
The USCIS stated that it will select the additional registrations from the pool of previously submitted electronic registrations using a random selection process. In March, the agency had already conducted the initial random selection of properly submitted electronic registrations for the FY 2024 H-1B cap, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption.
Only petitioners with selected registrations for FY 2024 are eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions. The initial filing period for these selected registrations was from April 1, 2023, through June 30, 2023.
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The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to hire foreign workers for specialized occupations requiring theoretical or technical expertise. It is highly sought after by technology companies to recruit tens of thousands of employees annually, particularly from countries like India and China.
The USCIS clarified its stance, stating, "We recently determined that we would need to select additional registrations to reach the FY 2024 numerical allocations. Soon, we will select additional registrations from previously submitted electronic registrations using a random selection process."
Once the second selection process is completed, all prospective petitioners with selected registrations from this round will be notified of their eligibility to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the selected registration.
Individuals with selected registrations will have their accounts updated to include a selection notice, which will provide details on when and where to file.
As per the congressional mandate, USCIS can issue a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas annually. Additionally, the agency can grant an extra 20,000 H-1B visas to foreign students who have completed higher studies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects from a US university.
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- With inputs from agencies
