On May 17th, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials announced that data entry had been completed for all H-1B cap-subject petitions for the 2020 fiscal year. More recently, they’ve now announced that all petitions that weren’t selected in the random lottery have now been returned. If you applied for an H-1B visa for FY 2020, your immigration attorney should receive either returned paperwork or a receipt notice by the end of the month. Here’s what you need to know about the process.

USCIS Returns Unselected H-1B Petitions

How H-1B Petition Are Processed

All H-1B petitions subject to the annual cap should have been submitted between April 1st and April 5th, 2019. Once the application period was closed, USCIS officials ran a computerized random selection program that chose 65,000 visas for further processing. Those that were not selected and eligible for the advanced degree pool were then subjected to a second lottery for the 20,000 remaining visas.

Returning Unselected Petitions

According to the most recent USCIS announcement, all petitions that were not selected in the random process were sent back by August 15th. By August 29th, everyone who submitted a petition for an FY 2020 H-1B visa should have received either a confirmation or their entire petition packet. If you haven’t heard back from USCIS about your petition, contact your immigration attorney immediately. They can work with immigration authorities to find out whether your petition was selected and what further action is needed.

For nearly 15 years, the immigration attorneys at Berd & Klauss, PLLC in New York City have provided guidance and helpful legal advice to clients from across the world. Whether you’re hoping to gain work authorization or become a naturalized citizen, you can rely on their team for service informed by the latest developments in immigration law. Visit their website for an overview of their services, and call (212) 461-7152 to consult with an accomplished immigration attorney.