USCIS Conducts Third Random Selection from Previously Submitted FY 2022 H-1B Cap Registrations

November 24, 2021

On November 19, 2021, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it had conducted another H-1B cap lottery for the Fiscal Year 2022 H-1B cap. This is the third such lottery this year. USCIS allows for 85,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions on an annual basis, which includes 65,000 for individuals with a Bachelor’s degree and 20,000 for those with an advanced degree (Master’s degree or higher).

USCIS received a total of 308,613 H-1B registrations for Fiscal Year 2022. The number of H-1B registrations for Fiscal Year 2022 represents a greater than 10% increase from Fiscal Year 2021. For Fiscal Year 2021, USCIS received a total of 274,237 H-1B registrations, of which 124,415 were selected during lotteries held in March and August 2020

For Fiscal Year 2022, USCIS selected 87,500 registrations during the first lottery in March 2021. These selections had a filing period of April 1, 2021 through June 30, 2021. An additional 27,717 registrations were selected during a second lottery conducted in July 2021. The registrations selected in the July 2021 lottery had a filing period of August 2, 2021 until November 3, 2021. The November 2021 lottery saw an additional 16,753 registrations selected. The filing period for registrations selected on November 19 began on November 22 and closes on February 23, 2022. All told, 131,970 registrations have been selected, which represents approximately 43% of the initial registrations.


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