USCIS will begin returning petitions not selected in the lottery.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on May 4 that it has completed data entry of all fiscal year 2016 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected in its computer-generated random process. USCIS will now begin returning all the H-1B cap-subject petitions that were not selected.

USCIS indicated that because of the high volume of filings, the time frame for returning these petitions is uncertain. Petitioners should not inquire about the status of submitted cap-subject petitions until they receive a receipt notice or a returned unselected petition.

USCIS will issue an announcement once it has returned all the unselected petitions.