U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it received 483,927 fiscal year (FY) 2023 H-1B registrations in March 2022, which is a new record. Of the registrations received for FY 2023 consideration, USCIS selected 127,600 registrations for which a complete FY 2023 H-1B petition may be submitted. That number is 56.8% higher than the total number of 87,500 registrations that USCIS selected for the first FY 2022 H-1B cap lottery last year.
Overview
While the annual numerical limit on H-1B cap-subject petitions is a total of 85,000, USCIS can consider multiple factors to determine how many registrations it will accept each year. The agency looks at historical data related to approvals, denials, revocations and other relevant factors to determine the number of accepted petitions it needs to reach the H-1B cap every fiscal year.
The total number of registrations that USCIS received this year exceeds the total of 308,613 registrations it received in FY 2022. Last year, USCIS conducted an unprecedented three lotteries to reach the H-1B cap limit for FY 2022. USCIS conducted the initial selection in March 2021, followed by a second selection in July and a third selection in November. The second and third lotteries were conducted to account for the fact that USCIS received too few accepted petitions from the initial lottery selection.
Looking Ahead
The agency has not yet announced if it will conduct more lotteries for the FY 2023 cap season.
Originally published 22 April 2022
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