As widely anticipated, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced yesterday that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to meet both the regular cap (65,000) and the advanced degree cap (20,000) for Fiscal Year 2015. USCIS received a total of 172,500 petitions during the FY2015 filing window, which ran through the first five business days of April.
USCIS also announced that it has completed the computer-generated random selection process – popularly known as the “H-1B lottery” – and selected the petitions it will process under each cap. For those that included the optional “premium processing” fee, the 15-day premium period will begin no later than April 28.
Petitions that were not selected in the lottery will be returned by postal mail to the petitioner or, if a G-28 Notice of Entry of Appearance was filed, to the petitioner’s legal representative.