USCIS First-Round Results Announcement 

On March 29th, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released an official statement announcing the first-round results from the F.Y. 2023 H-1B lottery had been sent to all selected applicants, and employers were required to verify their H-1B registration accounts.

For registrants who were not selected in the first round, USCIS encourages you to re-apply in the second round. The H-1B visa program is highly competitive, and there are more applicants than visas available each year. However, with persistence and luck, it is possible to be selected in subsequent rounds of the lottery.

USCIS received a staggering 483,927 H1B registrations for the F.Y. 2023 Season. It’s challenging to comprehend the total number of H-1B registrations USCIS has received since its inception in 2003. This year is also the most significant number of H-1B applications ever submitted by USCIS in its history as an agency, compared to last year’s numbers of 308,613 H-1B registrations for the F.Y. 2022 season. That’s roughly a 63% increase in applications.

Selection Notice

How many H-1B selections for F.Y. 2023? 

For F.Y. 2023, USCIS allotted 127,600 initial selections out of the 483,927 registrations projected as needed to reach the F.Y. 2023 numerical allocations. Those with selected registrations will have their myUSCIS accounts updated to include a selection notice, which includes details about when and where to file.

Suppose you haven’t already made your myUSCIS account. There are three types of USCIS online accounts to choose from:

Applicant/petitioner/requestor account – Individuals use this account to prepare and file applications, petitions, or other benefit requests. You cannot use this account type to prepare or submit H-1B registrations.

Attorney/representative account – If you are an attorney or accredited representative (legal representative) submitting H-1B registrations on behalf of a prospective petitioner, select this option. You will also be able to submit Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative.

Registrant account – This is the account that a prospective petitioner must create to participate in the H-1B registration process, regardless of whether the prospective petitioner will be using an attorney or accredited representative to submit the registration.

Avoid Duplicate Entries

A prospective petitioner may only have one registration submitted for each beneficiary per fiscal year. Suppose the prospective petitioner has more than one registration submitted for the same beneficiary at the end of the initial registration period. In that case, USCIS will invalidate all registrations submitted for that beneficiary by that prospective petitioner, or their authorized attorney or representative, from the selection process. This selection process does not prevent other prospective petitioners or their representatives from submitting registrations for that same beneficiary. Still, they, too, need to ensure that each prospective petitioner only has one registration submitted for the beneficiary.

2nd Round Lottery 

What is the reason for a second or third-round lottery?

It comes down to the application rates. For example, ~70% application rate was in F.Y. 2022. This application rate means not all 85,000 allocated H-1B’s have been approved (more like 59,000 of these allocated visas have been approved.) When this happens, USCIS necessitates the need for a second-round lottery. Because there are still 26,000 H-1B visas that need to be approved, and if only ~40% of the 26,000 allocated H-1B’s were approved, then that would trigger a third-round lottery because USCIS should allocate 85,000 H-1B visas. 

3rd Round Lottery

USCIS has already allocated the Majority of H-1B’s for F.Y. 2022. Because this happened, it’s unlikely, but not impossible, for a third-round lottery (there have even been instances of a fourth-round lottery before.) If a third-round lottery is needed, USCIS will select H-1B petitions and advanced degree exemption H-1B petitions that USCIS did not select in the first or second-round lotteries. If USCIS did not pick your H-1B registration in the first or second-round of the H-1B visa lottery, there’s still a chance that USCIS could select the H-1B registrant in the third round. That chance is again based on the first and second-round lottery application rate.

Automatic H-1B’s Approval

Has there ever been an automatic approval for H-1B registration?

“Somewhat” there’s no guarantee to be picked for the H-1B lottery. Still, in the America COMPETES Act, there’s legislation for S.T.E.M. Ph.D., which provides a pass to permanent residency via a work authorization (In particular, a Ph.D. from an exempt institution.) As long as the proper documentation that validates the H-1B petition is provided. 

Examples: 

• Non-profit research institutions
• University academics 
• Philanthropic studies

Wait-listed 

What does it mean to be wait-listed?

For registration selection notification notices, your MyUSCIS online account should have one of the following statuses:

• Submitted 
• Selected 
• Not-selected
• Denied
• Invalid or failed payment 

If you’ve been wait-listed, your status is submitted, and your registration is eligible for the second-round if any subsequent round occurs.

Will there be a second-round lottery? 

Possibly. If USCIS announces a second-round lottery, the announcement will be around mid-July to August. 

We’ll update you on any forthcoming announcement for the F.Y. 2023 lotteries. Click here to see if you qualify for an H-1B visa?