USCIS set to conduct second round of H-1B lottery for FY 2025 regular cap: Here's detailed guide

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that it will hold the process for the second round of H-1B lottery selections for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 under the annual visa limit of 65,000.

The first round of the lottery was conducted this year in March and picked eligible registrations for both the standard H-1B cap and the advanced degree exemption, known as the master's cap. The selected candidates were allowed to submit their H-1B petitions from April 1 and June 30.

“Soon, we will select additional registrations for unique beneficiaries from previously submitted electronic registrations using a random selection process,” the USCIS stated in an official statement.

“We will notify prospective petitioners with selected registrations from this second round of selection that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration. We will announce when we have completed this second process of selections and notifications,” the immigration authority in the US added.

What is the eligibility criteria?

The USCIS is set to conduct the second lottery because the number of applications filed during the first period did not reach the numerical allocation for the regular H-1B cap. This indicates that spots are still open for the regular cap, which indicates that more registrants can be selected. However, the USCIS clarified that the advanced degree exemption would not be subject to a second selection since there were enough petitions filed in the first selection to fill its numerical cap.

“We will not be conducting a second selection for the advanced degree exemption (the master’s cap), as enough master’s cap registrations were already selected and sufficient petitions were received based on those registrations as projected to meet the FY 2025 masters cap numerical allocation,” the USCIS informed.

“Registrations that indicated eligibility for the master’s cap will be included in the second round for the regular cap.”

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Know about the selection process

In the second round, new registrations will be randomly selected from the pool of previously submitted electronic registrations. This selection includes candidates who were mostly likely eligible for the Master's cap and those who are eligible only for the regular cap.

The US has set a regular cap of 65,000 H-1B visas and the master's cap of 20,000 additional visas for FY 2025.

The H1-B visa is the primary route for Indian IT firms to send their software engineers to the US. The US government annually issues 85,000 H-1B work permits and a crucial share goes to citizens of India.

US enterprises, especially in the technology industry, seeks the H-1B visa in order to hire skilled foreign workers.