U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced today that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap for FY 2014. USCIS has also received more than 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the advanced degree exemption. After today, USCIS will no longer accept H-1B petitions subject to the FY 2014 cap or the advanced degree exemption.
USCIS will use a computer-generated random selection process (commonly known as the “lottery”) for all FY 2014 cap-subject petitions received through April 5, 2013. The agency will conduct the lottery for advanced degree exemption petitions first. All advanced degree petitions not selected in the first lottery will be part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit. Due to the high number of petitions received, USCIS is not yet able to announce the exact day of the random selection process. Also, USCIS is currently not providing the total number of petitions received, as it continues to accept filings today. USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap.