U.S. employers with pending H-1B cap registrations may win additional H-1B numbers for their open H-1B positions because on July 30th, USCIS announced that the agency will conduct a second round of H-1B lottery to capture remaining H-1B numbers.
What is the H-1B Lottery?
Employers hire international personnel, mostly foreign graduates of U.S. colleges and universities, for positions in AI, software development, engineering, research, medicine, finance, and other complex fields. In order to onboard international personnel, US employers have to petition the U.S. government for work visas, such as H-1Bs.
Congress has limited the number of new H-1B visas available to U.S. employers to 85,000 per year, the number known as "H-1B cap." Employers' need exceeds this number, and USCIS makes them participate in an actual H-1B lottery in March of each year. The employer needs to win an H-1B cap number to be able to file an H-1B Petition. USCIS announces H-1B lottery results in April. Later in the year, if there are any unused numbers, USCIS runs a second round of the lottery, meaning that some employers will win a few more H-1B numbers and will be able to file H-1B petitions for their international personnel this year.
Why is this Important to U.S. Employers
Employers need to be able to onboard and retain qualified personnel for their open positions to take care of business. Failure to do so stalls our economy and forces employers to send unfilled jobs abroad. Ability to employ international personnel in the U.S. preserves U.S. jobs and helps economic growth.
What Should U.S. Employers do?
Employers with USCIS accounts with pending H-1B registrations need to
1. Log into their account this week to check on status of their H-1B registrations
2. Make sure your email that was used for H-1B registration is monitored.
What is the Next Step if the US Employer Wins an H-1B Number
If the employer wins an H-1B number, the employer should follow the H-1B process: LINK.
What if the U.S. Employer Does not Win a Number?
The employer needs to review its priority. Is onboarding or retention of international personnel important in this particular case? If so, the employer needs to engage in strategic planning, including exploring options, such as CPT-based employment or employer-driven green card process: LINK. They also should contact Congress about increasing H-1B numbers to prevent outflow of talent and U.S. jobs from the U.S. abroad.
Business Immigration Lawyer
For H-1B or Employer-Driven Green Card training, explore training at Corporate Immigration Compliance Institute.
