On August 14, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conducted the second H-1B visa lottery and began notifying employers and their immigration counsel of the results of a second selection lottery for the FY 2021 H-1B cap. The second lottery is being conducted due to the fact that the FY 2021 H-1B quota of 85,000 has not been reached. USCIS did not receive enough H-1B cap petitions to meet the quota during the initial filing period, which ran from April 1 to June 30, 2020.
As per recent updates, USCIS is expected to issue an official announcement of the second lottery, which could disclose the number of H-1B quota slots that remain available. It is not yet known how many additional registrations are being selected in the second drawing.
USCIS is selecting from among the thousands of H-1B registrations that were filed during the March 2020 registration period but not selected in the initial lottery. Employers whose H-1B registrations are selected in the second drawing must respond with the submission of the H-1B petition on behalf of new employees from the period August 17 to November 16, 2020. An employer whose registration is newly selected will receive a USCIS email indicating that action has been taken on its case.
We, at Emandi Law Firm, are closely monitoring the new FY 2021 cap selection and will provide updates as more information becomes available.
Related Blogs: https://emandilaw.com/trump-administration-loosens-travel-restrictions-to-the-h1b-and-l-1-visa-proclamation-issued-in-june-2020/
For recent immigration law news and updates, stay tuned to Emandi Law Firm. Feel free to reach out with questions at [email protected] or visit www.emandilaw.com