On May 3, 2017, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the data entry process for all H-1B cap petitions selected in the FY 2018 H-1B cap lottery had been completed. USCIS will begin returning petitions that were not selected in the lottery; however, a specific timeframe for the return of unselected petitions has not been identified. USCIS is requesting that petitioning employers refrain from inquiring into the status of cap-subject petitions until employers have received a receipt notice or the returned cap-subject petition.

In an effort to balance its workload, USCIS will transfer some H-1B cap petitions from its Vermont Service Center to its California Service Center for processing. USCIS will issue notifications via mail on cases that are being transferred.