USCIS runs a second H-1B cap lottery

On August 14, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirmed it had run a second H-1B lottery for fiscal year 2021 and sent out notifications regarding new H-1B registration selections. The USCIS had not yet met the 85,000 lottery quota for this fiscal year’s H-1B cap petitions.

How to determine who was selected in lottery “Round Two”

Notifications of new H-1B cap selections were sent to each email address that the USCIS has on file for the individual or legal representative who originally registered the potential employee for the lottery. The individual who receives the notification would log onto his or her USCIS online account at https://myaccount.uscis.gov/ in order to determine which case has been selected to file an H-1B cap petition.

Filing deadline

Newly selected registration notifications indicate that the filing period began on August 17 and will end on November 16. The registration selection notice will designate the H-1B service center with which the petition must be filed. The American Immigration Lawyers Association recommends that Labor Condition Applications be filed “as soon as possible before October 1 to avoid any issues.”

Filing fees

Filing fees for the H-1B Form I-129 will increase effective October 1. Thus, we encourage all filing newly selected cap petitions to prioritize these petitions to avoid having to pay the increased filing fees. As of today, the USCIS is allowing premium processing of all H-1B petitions, including those subject to the cap.

We will provide updates as more information becomes available.  If you have any questions about this or other immigration issues, please do not hesitate to contact any member of our Immigration Practice Group.

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