📰 USCIS Reaches Fiscal Year 2027 H-1B Cap – No Second lottery

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has received enough petitions 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) 2027 (https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-reaches-fiscal-year-2027-h-1b-cap). Thus, they will not be running a second H-1B lottery that had occurred in some prior years. New, cap-subject H-1B’s will be available next year for the FY2028 H-1B Cap.

While official data numbers have not been fully posted by USCIS, announcements were made by the Service that there was a substantial decrease in registrations this year as opposed to prior years, likely based on the Trump administrations 100K H-1B rule and wage-based selection process. Despite these decreased registrations and lengthier adjudication times for non-premium processing H-1B cap filings, USCIS was able to make this announcement to the surprise of many.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, are exempt from the FY 2027 H-1B cap. We will continue to accept and process petitions filed to: 

• Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States; 

• Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers; 

• Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and 

• Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in additional H-1B positions. 

If you would like to discuss other visa options for registrants/registrations not selected in the FY2027 H-1B lottery, please feel free to reach out to GGW.