H-1B Cap Lottery 2025

There is an annual limit on how many new H-1B visas United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) can issue each fiscal year. The number of new H-1B visa seekers far exceeds the annual limit and USCIS uses lottery to randomly select the new H-B petitions. An aspiring foreign national seeking H-1B visa needs to find an employer willing to sponsor the H-1B visa. The first step for the employer is to register the foreign national during the registration period. Once the registration period ends, USCIS conducts a lottery to randomly select the registrants(foreign national). If a foreign national is selected in the lottery, the employer then can file a H-1B petition for the foreign national. If the H1B petition is approved, foreign national can get the H-1B status and start working in USA. In our experience, we oibserved the registrants abusing the h1 lottery system through multiple registrations. FY2025 H1B lottery changes in our opinion are a step in the right direction as it reduces the multiple registrations for a foreign national during the selection process and provides a leveling field for all the participants.