The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received 483,927 registrations for the H-1B cap this fiscal year.
Growth Of 57%
This is an approximate 57% increase over the fiscal 2022 filing season.
Of the total registrations, USCIS has selected 127,600, 26% of the total, to meet the H-1B quota.
The potential for visa denial as well as the sponsoring employer not completing the actual filing process are also factors to consider.
Quota
The government has selected a much higher number of registrations in the initial lottery than last year when it selected 87,500 registrations.
The annual quota for H-1B cap visas is 85,000, including 20,000 visas that are allotted under the Masters’ cap for those having advanced degrees from US universities.
More than 48,000 prospective petitioners submitted registrations for the fiscal 2023 filing season, 31% of which were for the Master’s cap.
What Next?
Sponsoring employers whose registrations were accepted have until June 30 to file the visa applications.
After this, applications will be processed including calling for more information – if need be.
Starting on October 1, selected beneficiaries (H-1B cap workers) will be able to start working in the US.
A second lottery could be conducted If the number of visa applications received by June 30 falls short of the annual quota.
Registration Process
The current H-1B registration process was introduced for the first time in 2020.
As part of this process, sponsoring employers first complete an online registration process which requires only basic information about the prospective worker.
A lottery aka random selection process is then carried out.
Only applications for H-1B cap visas should be filed with respect to selected beneficiaries.
Indians Biggest Visa Beneficiaries
India accounted for three-fourths of H-1B visas issued in 2021, continuing its historical dominance on this highly sought after professional visa.
The US approved 407,071 H-1B petitions in 2021 and 301,616 of them – almost 74.1 percent – were for Indian workers.
They also accounted for 74.9 percent in 2020.
Trailing India are China with 12.1 percent, Canada with 0.9 percent, South Korea also with 0.9 percent and Philippines with 0.7 percent.
The sequence was the same in 2020, with almost the same numbers.