H-1B visa lottery conducted, USCIS begins sending out notifications to successful applicants
The United States has completed its H-1B visa selection for the fiscal year 2025, and selected candidates are being notified, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Friday."Fiscal Year 2025 H-1B cap petitioners: random selections have been made and notifications are being sent to myUSCIS accounts beginning yesterday and continuing over the next few days prior to April 1," the immigration agency said in a post on social media platform X.
The intial registration period for FY25 was originally announced from March 6 to March 22. However, a technical malfunction on the USCIS website caused a three-day extension to the deadline, shifting it from March 22 to March 25. Despite this delay, USCIS assured potential petitioners that they would still have the opportunity to confirm their eligibility to submit a petition subject to the H1B cap.
The demand for H-1B visas consistently surpasses the annual cap of 85,000, leading USCIS to utilize a lottery system to select recipients. In recent years, Indian tech professionals have been prominent beneficiaries of H1B cap-subject visas, securing over 70% of the available 85,000 visas, which includes the 20,000 allocated for holders of advanced US degrees under the master’s quota.
Starting next month, USCIS will initiate the transition of the H-1B Form I-129 filing location to a lockbox, necessitating all paper-based petitions to be sent to USCIS lockbox facilities. It is crucial to emphasize that there will be no grace period for petitions received at USCIS service centers on or after April 1, 2024.
New H-1B application filing rules
Earlier in the week, the USCIS announced two new filing rules for applicants who have been successful in the random lottery. USCIS has updated the filing location for H-1B and H-1B1 (HSC) Form I-129 petitions. All paper-based submissions must now be directed to USCIS lockbox locations instead of service centers.
This change applies to cap, non-cap, and cap-exempt H-1B filings. Specific mailing addresses for H-1B cap cases can be found on the Form I-129 Direct Filing Addresses page.
USCIS has also introduced new fees and a revised edition of Form I-129, which came into effect on April 1, 2024. Petitions postmarked on or after this date must incorporate the updated fees and utilize the new edition of Form I-129. USCIS will consider the postmark date to determine the appropriate form version and fees.
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