H-1B Adjudication Date

Date Lottery H-1B Petitions Will Be Adjudicated

Cap Subject H-1B petitions must be submitted in the first five business days of April. A total of 85,000 cap subject H-1B visas are available: 65,000 in the regular cap and 20,000 for the US Master’s Cap – meaning that the specialty occupation requires a Master’s degree and the beneficiary holds a Master’s degree from a US university. Cap subject H-1B petitions submitted for Fiscal Year 2017 must have a start date of October 1, 2016.

USCIS has announced that it will begin adjudicating petitions on May 16. The lottery process needs to be executed before adjudications take place. Last year, the lottery occurred in the middle of April. Receipt notices were issued for cases that were selected under the cap and then lottery rejection notices came trickling in slowly after that. If the H-1B petition processing begins by May 16, that means a receipt notice should be issued before then to inform the petitioner that the case has been selected under the cap. If premium processing is selected and the $1,225 fee is paid, that means the case will be adjudicated by May 31. USCIS will announce when overseas beneficiaries can begin the consular process, if the underlying H-1B petition is approved by USCIS.