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On Thursday, July 27, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will “need to select additional registrations to reach the fiscal year (FY) 2024 numerical allocations” for the H-1B visa.
Quick Hits
- USCIS announced that it will conduct another H-1B visa lottery “soon” to reach its “FY 2024 numerical allocations.”
- Notification of selections will be issued via H-1B visa candidates’ myUSCIS accounts.
Previously submitted H-1B visa electronic registrations are anticipated for a second lottery selection “soon,” USCIS said. The selection process will remain the same—USCIS will continue to use automated random selection. USCIS will then issue notifications of second selections via visa candidates’ myUSCIS accounts.
Beyond USCIS’s arguably conflicting accounts as to why it has decided to select additional registrations, the reason for the agency’s decision seems speculative. In March 2023, USCIS conducted its initial random selection on submitted electronic registrations for the highly sought-after H-1B visa.
With record-breaking numbers, FY 2024 saw 780,884 registrations, which represented a 57 percent jump from the previous year. The number of registrations was so staggering that USCIS suspected fraud, which the agency later confirmed. In April 2023, USCIS announced measures to combat fraud through extensive investigations, among other ameliorative actions.
We noted previously that these efforts left the door to additional lottery selections ajar and it now appears that additional selections are imminent.
Ogletree Deakins’ Immigration Practice Group will continue to monitor developments with respect to these and other policy changes and will post updates on the Immigration blog as additional information becomes available.
