USCIS has completed the H-1B cap random selection process. On April 11, USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process, “lottery”, to select enough H-1B petitions to meet the 65,000 congressionally-mandated cap and the 20,000 Masters cap under the advanced degree exemption. USCIS announced that 190,098 H-1B petitions were received in this filing period. For Fiscal Year 2018, 199,000 H-1B petitions were received during the filing period.  

We should begin to see receipt notices trickle in over the next few weeks. If you receive a receipt notice, this means your H-1B petition was selected in the lottery. If your petition is selected, it will be reviewed by a USCIS Officer. An Officer can send an approval (yay!), an RFE, or a denial notice. If your petition was not selected, USCIS will reject and return those petitions with filing fees, unless the petition is found to be a duplicate filing.