On April 7, 2017, USCIS announced that the H-1B cap for fiscal year 2018 was reached within the five business day filing window running from April 3-7, 2017. This includes both the U.S. advanced degree cap preference limit of 20,000 visas and the regular cap limit of 65,000 visas.
USCIS will hold a computer-generated random lottery for the petitions received. USCIS has not yet announced when the lottery will be conducted. A lottery will be held first for the 20,000 U.S. advanced degree cap preference. The unselected U.S. advanced degree cases will then be included in the 65,000 regular cap lottery.
Premium processing is not available for FY2018 H-1B cap petitions. It may be many weeks before regular processing receipt notices are received by mail confirming acceptance in the lottery, or cases returned confirming rejection.
