USCIS reaches fiscal year 2025 H-1B visa cap

US Citizenship and CIS has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year (FY) 2025. The agency made that announcement December 2, 2024.

The agency said it will be sending non-selection notices to registrants through their online accounts over the next few days. When it finishes sending these non-selection notifications, the status for properly submitted registrations that USCIS did not select for the FY 2025 H-1B numerical allocations will show the following:

• Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.

The USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, are exempt from the FY 2025 H-1B cap.

The agency will continue to accept and process petitions filed to: Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States; Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers; Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in additional H-1B positions.

U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. High-skilled workers from India are among the largest cohorts to benefit from this visa.