USCIS Announces it has Reached H-1B Cap for FY2025

Today, the USCIS announced it has “received enough petitions needed to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2025.” 

FY2025 began on October 1, 2024. In its announcement, the USCIS indicated that they will post non-selection notices to employers’ online MyUSCIS accounts over the next few days.  The status for registrations submitted for FY2024 will now show as “Not Selected: Not selected- not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.”

For FY2025, USCIS received 470,342 eligible H-1B registrations and ultimately selected 135,137 registrations across two rounds of selections, in March and July 2024. 

This was the first year that USCIS rolled out its beneficiary-centric selection process, which prioritizes unique beneficiaries in the lottery. This approach aimed to combat fraud and curb attempts to gain unfair advantages through multiple entries.

To compare, for FY 2024, USCIS received 758,994 eligible H-1B registrations and ultimately selected 188,400 across two rounds of selections. USCIS noted that of its 758,994 eligible registrations, 408,891 were eligible registrations for beneficiaries with multiple eligible registrations.

We understand the difficulties inherent in not being selected for the lottery and sympathize with any distress or disappointment this result may cause. Weaver Schlenger clients should feel free to contact us with any questions