U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it received enough H-1B cap-subject registrations in the initial registration period to reach the numerical limit for the fiscal year (FY) 2024 H-1B cap season, which includes the master's cap.

Overview

As with past years, USCIS selected from a pool of registrations that were properly submitted in order to reach its 85,000 cap quota. USCIS has notified all petitioners whose registrations were selected that an H-1B cap-subject petition may be filed for the beneficiary named in the corresponding selected registration.

Prospective petitioners whose registrations were selected have been notified through their electronic USCIS account. The status for their registration will be listed as "Selected."

Individuals whose petitions were not selected will see a different message instead, which may include one of the following:

Submitted: The registration has been properly submitted and is eligible for selection. If this status appears at the end of the initial selection period, it means the registration was not chosen, but it is still eligible for selection in any subsequent lottery rounds during the same fiscal year when it was submitted.

Denied: A registration will have this status if multiple registrations were submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for the same beneficiary.

Invalidated-Failed Payment: This message appears if a registration was submitted but the payment method was invalid, declined, disputed, or reconciled.

Looking Ahead

USCIS reminds petitioners that FY 2024 H-1B cap-subject petitions may be submitted starting April 1, 2023, and the period for filing will be 90 days. Further, USCIS notified that due to increased filing volumes seen during H-1B cap filing periods issuance of the Form I-797, Notice of Action confirming receipt of the petition may be delayed.

Envoy is pleased to provide you this information, which was prepared in collaboration with Anne Walsh, who is a Partner at Global Immigration Associates (GIA), one of the two independent U.S. law firms Envoy exclusively works with on the Envoy Platform (the "U.S. Law Firms").

Originally published 27 March 2023

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