[author: Laura Anne Schierhoff]

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported on April 7, 2017, that the agency reached the congressionally mandated  65,000 visa H-1B Cap for FY 2018. USCIS also received enough petitions to reach the 20,000 visa advanced degree exemption, known as the “Master’s Cap.” The USCIS had previously confirmed it would conduct a lottery if enough petitions were received to reach the statutory caps during the first week of April. This is the same process as with prior years. Also as in prior years, a random computer selection will be run for those petitions received under both caps. First, USCIS will run the Master’s Cap lottery, and any petitions not selected in the lottery for the Master’s Cap will then be included in the random computer generated selection process for the 65,000 regular cap. Thus, Master’s Cap candidates get two shots at the visa lottery.