USCIS Runs a Third H-1B Lottery in November

On Friday, November 19, we learned that USCIS selected (for a third time!) additional H-1B lottery registrations from the registrations that were not selected in March 2021.  We also received selection notifications over the weekend.  The newly selected registrations have notices that say “FY2022 Selection of Reserve Registration” and indicate a filing period of November 22, 2021, to February 23, 2022.  If we filed a registration on your behalf and it was selected in this third lottery, we have already reached out to your employer.   Your employer also should have received a notification from USCIS about the selection. 

The news of a third lottery is very surprising because USCIS received 308,613 H-1B registrations in March, which is an increase of over 34,000 registrations from last year, and the chances of an employer not acting on a registration seemed lower this year because the economy is much stronger. USCIS also ran the second lottery earlier this summer compared to last year.  If USCIS has to run a third lottery after it receives such a high number of registrations in March, I think it’s fair to assume that USCIS will generally be selecting H-1B registrations more than once each year. 

This alert is for informational purposes only.  Please contact me if you would like to discuss this development further.