On April 11,
USCIS used a computer-generated random selection process to select enough H-1B
petitions to meet the congressionally-mandated cap and the U.S. advanced degree
exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2019.
USCIS received
190,098 H-1B petitions during the filing period, which began April 2, including
petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption. USCIS announced on April 6, that it
had received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 and the
master’s cap of 20,000. USCIS will reject and return all unselected petitions
with their filing fees unless the petition is a prohibited multiple filing.
USCIS conducted
the selection process for the master’s cap first. All unselected master’s cap
petitions then became part of the random selection process for the 65,000 cap.
