United States has announced that it will hold another H-1B visa lottery, giving hundreds of IndiaIT professionals a second chance after being rejected in the first round of random selection. After it was determined that the previous computerised lottery for H-1B visas, held earlier this year, did not raise enough Congressionally mandated H-1B visas, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) decided to hold a rare second lottery for H-1B visas.
“We recently determined that we needed to select additional registrations to reach the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 numerical allocations,” the USCIS said in a statement. “On July 28, we selected previously submitted electronic registrations using a random selection process.”
H-1B visa second lottery: Petitions begin next week
The USCIS has already begun selecting the registrations that were previously submitted; however, the petition filing period will begin on August 2 and end on November 3. Those with selected registrations for FY 2022 had a filing period that ran from April 1, 2021, to June 30, 2021.
“Individuals with selected registrations will have their myUSCIS accounts updated to include a selection notice, which includes details of when and where to file,” the USCIS explained, providing details of the random selection process.
H-1B visa second lottery: Who will be eligible?
H-1B cap-subject petitions can only be filed by those petitions whose registrations have been selected for FY 2022, the USCIS said.
“Registration selection only indicates that petitioners are eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions; it does not indicate that the petition will be approved. Petitioners filing H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those petitions eligible for the advanced degree exemption, must still submit evidence and establish eligibility for petition approval based on existing statutory and regulatory requirements,” the USCIS added.
H-1B visa second lottery: How to file petitions?
According to the USCIS, H-1B cap-subject petitions must be filed at the correct service centre and within the filing period specified on the relevant registration selection notice.
There is no option for filing documents online. Petitioners must submit their H-1B petitions on paper, along with a printed copy of the applicable registration selection notice, for the FY 2022 H-1B cap-subject petition.
Because it is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations requiring theoretical or technical expertise, the H-1B visa is the most sought-after among Indian information technology (IT) professionals. Several US-based tech firms rely on it.
