USCIS has officially announced the dates for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap lottery, which will open on Wednesday, March 6, 2024 at noon ET and end on Friday, March 22, 2024, at noon ET. This annual lottery is meant to select new H-1B candidates, who will be eligible to file an H-1B petition and, if approved, begin H-1B employment on October 1, 2024 (the first day of FY 2025).
Through the annual H-1B lottery process, employers of prospective H-1B workers, and their legal representatives, complete an online registration that includes basic information about the petitioner/employer and each prospective worker, as well as pay the current associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each prospective worker. Once the registration period is complete, USCIS will run a random computer-generated selection process (or lottery) to select enough electronic registrations to meet its annual H-1B quota (or cap). This includes an annual regular quota for the H-1B category of 65,000 workers, in addition to an annual “master’s” quota of 20,000 workers who have obtained their master’s degree or higher from an accredited U.S. university.
Please, contact Darren Heyman, a Las Vegas Immigration Attorney, for more information.