Still An Unsolved Mystery – The H-1B Visa Lottery Process
Jul 16 2018
Not unlike the stone heads of Easter Island, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, and the number of licks required to reach the center of Tootsie Pop, the H-1B visa lottery remains an enigma to many.
A statutory cap limits annual approval of new H-1B visa petitions at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 available for individuals with U.S. Masters or higher degrees. The H-1B visa is often the only viable option for temporary employment of a professional worker. High demand coupled with a limited supply results in U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) randomly selecting a total of 85,000 H-1B visa petitions received the first five (5) business days of April each year.
On Wednesday, June 27, 2018, the Office of the USCIS Ombudsman held a teleconference to discuss the H-1B visa lottery process and how USCIS processed the over 190,000 H-1B visa petitions received during the Fiscal Year 2019 filing period, which ran from April 2-6, 2018. During the teleconference, the Ombudsman’s office revealed some insights:
Fiscal Year (FY) |
Master’s Cap |
Regular Cap |
FY 2019 |
95,885 |
94,213 |
FY 2018 |
87,380 |
111,080 |
FY 2017 |
70,238 |
166,206 |
FY 2016 |
50,724 |
182,249 |
FY 2015 |
40,518 |
132,063 |
FY 2014 |
30,641 |
93,489 |
Fiscal Year |
Master’s Cap |
Regular Cap |
2018 |
23,500 |
74,500 |
2019 |
27,100 |
85,900 |
FY2019 numbers also suggest that an increase in denials over last year may be expected.
As part of its rulemaking agenda, USCIS has proposed amending its regulations to establish an electronic registration program for petitions subject to numerical limitations for the H-1B nonimmigrant classification. The rule, first proposed in 2011, would allow USCIS to more efficiently manage the intake and lottery process for H-1B petitions. Whether it will come to fruition and what the process would be are still mysteries.
And, like the answer to the Tootsie Pop question, the world may never know.