U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced this morning
that it has reached the congressionally mandated 65,000 visa
H-1B cap for fiscal year 2018. USCIS also received a
sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet the 20,000 visa U.S.
advanced degree exemption, also known as the Master’s
Cap.
USCIS will now run two lotteries to choose the FY 2018 cases
that will be processed to completion. The first lottery will
select enough cases to meet the advanced degree cap exemption of
20,000. The second lottery will select enough filings to fill the
standard quota of 65,000 and will draw from all remaining cases,
including those not selected in the advanced degree lottery.
After USCIS concludes the lottery process, it will issue Receipt
Notices to employers whose cases have been selected for
processing. However, on April 3, 2017, USCIS suspended premium
processing for up to six months for all H-1B petitions, including
cap-exempt petitions. Employers should be
