Another chance for Indian IT professionals! US to conduct rare 2nd lottery for H-1B visa applicants

Washington DC, July 30: Good news for hundreds of Indian IT professionals staying in the US as the country's Citizenship and Immigration Service has decided to conduct a rare second lottery for the H-1B visa.

 

 

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said that a decision was taken after determining that the computerised draw of lots for H-1B visas conducted early this year did not give them enough number of Congressional mandated H-1B visas.

 

“We recently determined that we needed to select additional registrations to reach the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 numerical allocations. On July 28, we selected previously submitted electronic registrations using a random selection process,” the USCIS said in a statement.

 

 

The USCIS said that it has already started selecting the registrations submitted earlier; however, the petition filing period will begin on August 2 and close on November 3. Initially, the filing period for those with selected registrations for FY 2022 was from April 1, 2021, through 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.

 

The citizenship and immigration services department said an H-1B cap-subject petition must be filled at the correct service center and online filing is not available for new visa petitions under the second round of lottery.

 

The US agency also added that petitioners filing H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those petitions eligible for advanced degree exemption, must submit evidence to establish eligibility for petition approval, based on existing statutory and regulatory requirements.

 

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that permits US-based companies to bring on board foreign workers in highly specialised occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The visa has been used as a key instrument for technology companies in the US to attract thousands of skilled foreign workers, most notably from India and China.

 

The development potentially opens the door for the large cohort of skilled Indians who didn't make the cut in the first lottery.

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