USCIS Hits FY 2020 H-1B Regular Cap

Last Updated on February 23, 2023

On Friday, April 5, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it has received enough H-1B visa petitions to hit the regular cap of 65,000 for fiscal year 2020.

Next, USCIS will conduct the H-1B regular cap lottery fulfilling the 65,000 quota. USCIS will then complete the master’s cap lottery, as discussed in a previous blog post.

For those petitions allowed to file with Premium Processing, USCIS anticipates updates on May 20, 2019. For regularly processed petitions, we anticipate to start receiving updates in late May and June.

What Do I Need To Know?

As expected, the FY 2020 regular cap was quickly met after opening Monday, April 1.

Additionally, USCIS will still accept and process visa petitions otherwise exempt from the cap. This exemption includes H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap and still retain their cap number.

USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:

  • Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
  • Allow current H-1B employees to work concurrently in a second H-1B position
  • Extend the duration a current H-1B worker may remain in the U.S.
  • Change terms of employment for current H-1B workers

Envoy is pleased to provide you this information, which was prepared in collaboration with Sara Herbek, who is the Managing Partner at Global Immigration Associates, P.C. (www.giafirm.com), Envoy’s affiliated law firm.