H1B FY 2025 Updates
USCIS has conducted the H1B lottery every year, since fiscal year 2014 season. Technically, we had H1B lottery every year for the last 11 consecutive years. For the H1B fiscal year 2024, USCIS received a whopping 781K registrations. As of today, April 24, 2024, we do not have any update on how many H1B registrations were submitted in the H1B registration online system for the FY 2025 season. We are still waiting for the update from USCIS.
USCIS opened up the online H1B registration period for FY 2025 season on March 6th, 2024. Due to system outage issues, they extended the ending date of the registration period until March 25th, 2024. Last year, for the H1B Visa 2024 season, the H1B registration period ended on March 20th, 2023.
On April 1st, 2024, USCIS released an official press on the H1B lottery results indicating that the lottery was completed for the FY 2025 season and all employers were notified regarding the selections.
As per the selected notice from the H1B 2025 Lottery, employers can submit H1B petition anytime between April 1st, 2024 and June 30th, 2024. They have 90 days filing window.
The H1B Visa Quota is divided into two: the first one is the regular quota, and the second is the master’s quota. US Congress has set a limit of 85,000 on the number of H1B Visas that can be issued annually. That limit is called an ‘H1B quota cap’.
Below are the annual quota caps set for each of them and how they look for the FY 2025 season:
· H1B Regular Quota: 65,000 visas
· H1B Master’s Quota: 20,000 visas (only applicants with a US Master’s degree from accredited schools are eligible for this quota)
Also, of the total 85,000 visa slots, there are about 6,800 visas that are set aside for the citizens of Singapore and Chile as part of their Free Trade Agreement. These 6,800 are called as categorized as H1B1. So, technically, the total count is less than 85,000 per year for the H1B quota.
