The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has begun to send emailed notifications of H-1B petitions that were accepted in the FY 2020 cap. This began one day after USCIS announced that it had completed the H-1B lottery selection processed and reached the master’s cap. The regular cap was reached on April 5, according to USCIS.
Notes to Consider:
- Only premium processing petitions receive emailed receipt notices. H-1B petitions that were not filed with a premium processing request will have to wait for a paper Receipt Notice on Form I-797.
- We recommend waiting for paper Receipt Notices on Form I-797 (even when an emailed receipt notice has been issued) before making any strategy or travel decisions.
- USCIS has not announced when paper Receipt Notices will begin to be mailed.
- 15-day adjudication: USCIS previously announced that premium processing cases will not be adjudicated immediately. Instead, the agency will begin to adjudicate premium processing cases on May 20, 2019. Therefore, H-1B petitions that receive emailed notifications of receipt now can still expect adjudications outside the normal 15-day period allotted for premium processing.
USCIS is expected to open the premium processing option for most other cap petitions in June of this year.