United States: USCIS Will Not Conduct an H-1B Cap Lottery for FY 2012
All properly completed FY 2012 H-1B cap petitions received on or before November 22, 2011 will be processed to completion.
USCIS has confirmed that it will not conduct an H-1B cap lottery for FY 2012. All properly completed H-1B cap petitions received on November 22, 2011 — the “final receipt date” on which USCIS determined it had received enough filings to meet this year’s quota — will be processed to completion.
Cap cases received after November 22 will be rejected and returned along with their fees.
This is the first time that USCIS has not conducted an H-1B cap lottery since the process was established in 2005. In years past, USCIS used the computerized lottery when it had received a surplus of H-1B cap petitions. Petitions received on the final receipt date were entered into a drawing to randomly select a sufficient number of cases to fulfill the cap. Surplus cases not selected in the lottery were rejected and returned. Agency regulations allow, but do not require, USCIS to conduct the H-1B lottery.
Fragomen is closely following the processing of FY 2012 H-1B cap cases and will provide further updates as developments occur. If you have any questions about this Client Alert, please contact your designated Fragomen professional.
Source: Fragomen