USCIS has announced that it received 190,098 H-1B petitions during the filing period for FY2019, which began on April 2, 2018, including petitions filed for the advanced degree exemption.  This year’s number of petitions is lower than the 199,000 H-1B petitions filed in FY2018.  Per the regulations, on April 11, USCIS conducted its random lottery for H-1B cap-subject petitions that would be selected for processing.  USCIS will begin processing H-1B cap cases now.  Employers with cap-subject petitions that were selected for adjudication will receive in the near future the H-1B receipt notice on Form I-797C. USCIS will reject and return all unselected petitions with their filing fees unless the petition is a prohibited multiple filing. USCIS will release an announcement once all the H-1B petitions have been returned.

Employers may wish to assess alternative options while waiting to see whether a particular H-1B case was accepted or rejected for processing by USCIS.