USCIS News : H1B FY 2019 Cap Reached – Summary, Lottery ?

USCIS did a press release now that they have reached H1B Visa FY 2019 quota cap. This year, they first updated their H1B updated page for FY 2019, then sent the email update to all the subscribers of H1B updates and then finally released the press note of the same. In any case, the message is no different from previous years. I would say, it is kind of copy and paste from previous’ years press releases.

Summary of H1B FY 2019 Cap Reached Press Release : 

• Regular and Masters Quota Cap Reached : H1B Visa quota cap of regular quota of 65,000 for FY 2019 reached. Also, US Masters degree H1B quota cap of 20,000 for fiscal year 2019 reached.
• Rejection and Return of Petitions : USCIS will reject and return filing fees for all unselected cap-subject petitions that do not fall under Duplicate H1B Filings New Rule of 2018
• Cap Exempt H1B Petitions : USCIS will accept petitions that are H1B cap exempt like below
  • Previously cap counted H1B workers like for Transfers, extensions.
  • Also, H1B petitions filed for change of employment terms
  • Concurrent H1B petitions filings for second H1B position.

What’s the take ? Any changes from previous years ?

It is not much different from the previous years press releases. They do not really tell that there will be lottery, but subtly indicate that they will “reject and return petitions for all unselected cap-subject petitions.” The key message from this statement is that there will be H1B Visa lottery like the past years and there were more petitions filed than the required cap.

As mentioned in our previous article on What to expect for FY 2019 season, the lottery date for FY 2019 could be around April 11th or 13th based on historical data of the past like below.

• • For FY 2018, it was done on April 11^th, 2017
  • For FY 2017, it was done on April 12^th, 2016
  • For FY 20167, it was done on April 13^th, 2015.

What do you think of the press release ? Share your thoughts.

If you have applied for FY 2019 quota, please add your case to the tracker for everyone’s benefit as you will be in some unknown period with many waiting for lottery.

Email Sent to USCIS H1B update Subscribers :

USCIS web page update : 

Reference :

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