USCIS announced that it hasreceived 308,613H-1B cap registration during the March 2021 filing period, includingpetitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. About 48% of theregistrations were for foreign-national advanced degree students.
This is considerably more than the275,000 received last year (March 2020, FY 2021). It is also farmore than the 201,000 during the April 2019 (FY 2020) filing period and 190,000H-1B petitions received during the April 2018 (Fiscal Year 2019) filing periodand.
USCIS is in the process ofnotifying H-1B cap lottery winners. Based on the Congressional H-1Bcap of 85,000 H-1B cap winners, Petitioners should expect about 27% of theirH-1B cap filings to be H-1B cap winners because Congress only allows the USCISto approve H-1B cap petitions. H-1B winners have 90 days to submit theirfull H-1B cap petition to the USCIS.
As has been the case since thelaunch of the on-line registration system in March 2020, the USCIS willcontinue to update the H-1B cap winners list. Therefore, additionalwinners may be added throughout the spring and summer. USCIS is notexpected to contact any H-1B lottery losers until all 85,000 approval noticesare issued.