On March 31, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency had completed the random numeric selection process (lottery) for allocating H-1B numbers among the properly submitted registrations under both the H-1B Regular Cap and H-1B U.S. Master’s Cap.

USCIS has also now completed the process of notifying the registrations that have been selected. Registrations selected in the lottery will be eligible to file an H-1B petition beginning April 1, 2025. Selected registrants will have 90 days to file H-1B petitions.

Registrants’ USCIS online accounts will now show one of the following for each individual applicant’s registration:

• Submitted – The registration has been submitted and is eligible for selection.
• Selected – Selected to file an H-1B cap petition.
• Not Selected – Not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration
• Denied – Duplicate registration
• Invalidated – Failed payment
• Deleted
• Processing Submission

 
Non-Selected Registrations  
Properly submitted registrations that have not been selected will remain in the system as valid registrations with their status designated as “Submitted” for the remainder of the fiscal year. These remaining submissions will be available for selection in the future if the current fiscal year cap reopens. The cap could reopen if a relatively high number of registrations do not result in actual filings with USCIS during the 90-day filing window or H-1B petitions are denied. This means there is still a chance, currently unquantifiable, that registrations not updated as “selected” at this time could still be selected in the future. Such selections did occur in prior fiscal years when the USCIS conducted additional selections. Foster recommends that employers continue to monitor their emails closely for notifications from USCIS of H-1B cap registration selections.

Categories of H-1B Petitions Not Subject to the H-1B Cap
H-1B visa numbers remain available for citizens of Chile and Singapore pursuant to trade agreements that set aside H-1B numbers under each year’s quota. Additionally, the following types of H-1B petitions are not subject to the annual H-1B cap and may be filed without numerical limitation:

1. H-1B petition extensions and amendments for existing H-1B employees;
2. H-1B change of employer petitions for candidates who were counted under a previous year’s H-1B cap, who hold H-1B status, and who are seeking a change of employer;
3. H-1B petitions on behalf of employees of institutions of higher education;
4. H-1B petitions on behalf of employees of nonprofit organizations affiliated with institutions of higher education;
5. H-1B petitions on behalf of employees of nonprofit research organizations or governmental research organizations;
6. H-1B petitions on behalf of candidates who were previously granted H-1B status in the past six years; and
7. H-1B petitions filed on behalf of J-1 nonimmigrant physicians who have received a Conrad 30 J-1 waiver.

 
For more information on a potential H-1B cap exemption, please contact your Foster immigration attorney. If you are unsure whether a particular organization may meet the requirements for H-1B cap exemption, or you wish to explore how it may qualify in the future, your Foster immigration attorney can assist you in evaluating the affiliations and preparing the arguments on behalf of your organization.