As expected, Immigration Services has announced that the H-1B cap for fiscal year 2015 (which begins October 1, 2014) was reached during the initial five day filing period.
Both the regular cap of 65,000 and the U.S. Master’s cap of an additional 20,000 were reached.
On April 10, Immigration Services announced that they ran the lotteries to determine which cases are accepted and which are returned. They first selected 20,000 U.S. Master’s cases. Any U.S. Master’s case not selected went into the regular cap lottery for a second chance.
Immigration Services has indicated that they received a total of 172,500 cases, which is a little more than double the number they can accept, which means cases have a 50/50 chance of being accepted.
Immigration Services has also indicated that, regardless of the date noted on a filing receipt, for premium processing purposes the 15 day clock will not start until April 28.
Please watch our website for more details on the cap lottery as they become available.
For questions, please contact Managing Partner Michael Wildes at michael@wildeslaw.com.
