US Announces Second Round of H-1B Visa Lottery for Current Financial Year

WASHINGTON:
In a move that could benefit Indians, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will hold a second random lottery selection from the previously submitted H-1B visas for fiscal 2024.

In March this year, the USCIS conducted an initial random selection on properly submitted electronic registrations for the fiscal year 2024 H-1B cap, including for beneficiaries eligible for the advanced degree exemption.

Only those petitioners with selected registrations for FY 2024 are eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions. The initial filing period for those with selected registrations for FY 2024 was from April 1, 2023, through June 30, 2023.

USCIS, the federal agency that oversees lawful immigration to the country, recently determined that it 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,” the USCIS said in a statement released on Thursday. “We will announce once we have completed this second selection process and have notified all prospective petitioners with selected registrations from this round of selection that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration.”

The immigration agency further said that those with selected registrations will have their myUSCIS accounts updated to include a selection notice, which includes details of when and where to file. The H-1B visa allows companies and other employers in the US to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialised knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or higher in the specific specialty, or its equivalent.

Every year the US gives 65,000 H-1B visas open to all and 20,000 to those with advanced US degrees. Indians are the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B visas getting about 75 per cent of them, according to the US government.