FY 2016 H-1B Cap: Receipt Notices And Returned Petitions

Receipt or return.  The US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has indicated that it will now begin returning FY 2016 H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not chosen in the FY 2016 H-1B Lottery (computer-generated random selection process). 

Receipts for H-1B petitions selected for processing have been issued over the past week or so.   In this context a receipt, or I-797 Notice of Action which acknowledges the Immigration Service's receipt of a petition, indicates that the petition was selected in the FY 2016 H-1B Lottery. 

It's not clear whether additional receipt notices will still be issued, but hope seems to be diminishing.  Of course, not all cases that were lucky enough to be selected in the lottery will necessarily be approved, so arguably it is still possible that a few more cases may be receipted for processing.