U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this afternoon that it has reached its FY 2017 cap of 85,000 H-1B Person in Specialty Occupation visa petitions, including the 20,000 reserved for advanced degrees. The government has yet to release the total number of petitions it received. That information will likely come next week.
USCIS uses a computer-generated lottery system to select petitions for processing. First, 20,000 advanced degree petitions are randomly selected. All remaining petitions in that category are then kicked over to the larger pool, from which 65,000 petitions are randomly chosen. Next, the government agency returns any petitions that aren’t selected, along with their filing fees. Because it received so many petitions, USCIS can’t yet say when it will finish the lottery process. At this time, USCIS will continue to process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap.
Earl Reyes, VISANOW-affiliated attorney, says it’s not surprising the government cap was reached so quickly. “The U.S. economy has been improving, and the demand for tech talent is growing proportionately to this economic growth. There are simply not enough qualified U.S. candidates to match companies’ need for talent,” he says.
“Unfortunately, we will probably not see any change in immigration policy until after this election year, considering the political stalemate between congress and the White House,” Reyes continues. “In the next several weeks, highly talented individuals who could not obtain an H-1B visa will be leaving the United States and going to other countries that are more welcoming of tech talent and more immigrant-friendly.”
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