Key Points
- USCIS received a record number of 483,927 initial FY 2023 H-1B registrations
- In FY 2022, USCIS received 308,613 H-1B registrations
- USCIS selected 87,500 H-1B registrations initially in FY 2022 and 127,600 in FY 2023
- Approximately 31% of registrations requested an advanced degree exemption
Overview
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that in March 2022, it received 483,927 Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 H-1B registrations, which far exceeded the 308,613 registrations it had received in FY 2022.
In the initial round for this year’s lottery, USCIS selected 127,600 registrations, projected as needed to reach the FY 2023 numerical allocations, for which a total FY 2023 H-1B petition may be submitted. In making this calculation, the government considered the number of registrations that must be selected to receive the projected number of petitions required to meet the numerical limitations. This calculation incorporates historical rates of non-filing for prospective petitioners whose registrations are selected but who do not file a petition based on those selected registrations. Of the total selected, 31% of registrations requested an advanced degree exemption.
Looking Ahead
Last year, USCIS conducted three unprecedented lotteries to reach the FY 2022 H-1B cap limit. The agency has not yet announced whether to conduct more lotteries for the FY 2023 cap season.
Written by: Lucy Halse, Content Marketing Associate, Envoy Global
Edited by: Dmitri Pikman, Supervising Attorney, Corporate Immigration Partners
Source: US Citizenship and Immigration Services
