On July 30, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it will conduct a second round of the H-1B Cap Lottery to supplement the registrants from the April 2024 selection. This means that foreign nationals who previously registered, but were not selected in this year’s H-1B lottery, have an additional chance.  If selected from this supplemental second round, winners will be allowed to submit H-1B petitions for FY 2025.  Although USCIS stated that the 20,000 U.S. Master’s cap had been reached by the initial lottery, unselected U.S. Master’s degree registrants will still be eligible for one of the remaining Bachelor’s cap selections. 

USCIS has not announced when the second round of selections will take place, although last year’s second lottery selection took place in early August, less than a week after it was announced. The filing window for additional selections is also likely to be similar to past years, with a deadline to file a complete submission in late October of 2024. Again, USCIS has made no official announcement as to when the supplemental lottery selection will take place, how many additional selections will be made or when the filing deadline will be for H-1B petitions based on the selections.

For now, employers do not need to take additional action to ensure that their registrations are eligible for the second selection process. Employers should be prepared to act quickly to file additional H-1B cap subject petitions, if selected. If you have questions about how the supplemental second H-1B cap lottery selection might affect your company’s registrations, please contact a Dinsmore & Shohl immigration attorney.