The US has completed the second round of the H-1B visa lottery for the FY 2025 regular cap, confirms USCIS. The selection has been made on a random basis for the previously submitted applications.
USCIS selected 13,607 beneficiaries in the second selection for the FY 2025 H-1B regular cap second round, resulting in 14,534 selected registrations. During the first round of H-1B, 114,017 beneficiaries, resulting in 120,603 candidates were selected.
The petitioners have been notified that they are now eligible to file. This means only petitioners with selected registrations may file H-1B cap-subject petitions for FY 2025, and only for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration notice.
As previously reported by visa-guru.com on 30 July, USCIS wanted to run the second round of lottery for FY2025 to gain the required numbers for H-1b selections. The immigration department USCIS confirmed the selections on 5 August. However, the second round for the master’s cap has not been conducted because there were enough selections from this category.
The US immigration department USCIS confirmed the details as follows:
USCIS recently announced that we would need to select additional registrations for unique beneficiaries to reach the fiscal year 2025 H-1B regular cap numerical allocation. Our projections indicate we have now randomly selected a sufficient number of registrations for unique beneficiaries as needed to reach the regular cap from the remaining properly submitted FY 2025 registrations. Additionally, we have notified all prospective petitioners with selected registrations from this round of selection that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration.
Important dates and details for H-1B Second Round
| Filling Info. | Details |
| Filing Location | Correct filing location or online at http://my.uscis.gov |
| Filing Period | Within the period indicated on the selection notice, at least 90 days |
| Requirements for Filing | Include a copy of the applicable selection notice with the FY 2025 H-1B cap-subject petition |
| Final Rule on Increased Fees | Published on Jan. 31, 2024 |
| Effective Date for New Fees | April 1, 2024 |
| Rejection of Petitions | Petitions with incorrect fees will be rejected |
| Form Requirement | Only the new edition of Form I-129 will be accepted as of April 1, 2024 |
| Effective Date for Increased I-907 Filing Fee | Feb. 26, 2024 |
| Rejection of Incorrect Fees for Form I-907 | I-907 forms postmarked on or after Feb. 26, 2024, with incorrect fees will be rejected and fees returned |