If you need to work in the US as a foreign national, you need work visa. One of the most popular US work visas utilised by many is H1B Visa. There is an annual cap of 85,000 for H1B Visas, of which 65,000 is for regular quota and 20,000 is reserved for US masters applicants.
Due to varying demand cycles for H1B visa, sometimes, they exhaust in the first few days and sometimes, they do not get filled for few months. Also, since USCIS started the H1B registration process, there are first round, second round and even third-round lotteries done to select registrations to fill the H1B annual cap. This article is a summary of the history of the H1B seasons’s cap count updates for the last 12 years on how the H1B cap was met.
You can also check H1B Cap Reach Dates History – Graphs, Trends to understand the overall pattern and trends
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H1B Visa FY 2024 Season cap count updates
Below are the updates for the H1B Visa 2024 Season on the cap counts and H1B lottery
Third Round H1B Lottery for FY 2024
- USCIS has not indicated anything about third round lottery as of November 23rd, 2023.
- Everyone continue to wait on the same.
- We may hear something from USCIS towards the end of November or early October 2023. We would update this article as we have more updates.
Second Round Lottery for FY 2024
- USCIS made a press release on July 27th, 2023, indicating they would run a second round lottery.
- USCIS announced on July 31st, 2023 that they completed the second round lottery for FY 2024 season.
- As part of the second round H1B lottery USCIS selected 77,600 H1B registrations. You can read more on the analysis at USCIS Selects 77,600 H1B Registrations in Second Round for FY 2024. Check Official News on USCIS wesbsite.
First Round(initial round) Lottery for FY 2024
- USCIS updated on March 27th, 2023 that they completed the first round or initial lottery to select the required registrations to meet the H1B Cap. You can read official news at Read USCIS News – H1B 2024 Lottery Done, Notified and summary at H1B 2024 Lottery Results Out – Sample Selection Notice .
- USCIS updated their website on April 28th indicating that they received about 781,000 H1B registrations for FY 2024 season. Read full details at USCIS received 781K H1B Registrations, Selections, Metrics Info.
H1B Visa Fiscal Year 2023 Season Cap Updates
Below are the updates for H1B Visa Fiscal Year(FY) 2023 on how the H1B cap was met.
USCIS did not conduct a second or third-round lottery for FY 2023 season. The number of registrations that were selected in the first round were sufficient for meeting the FY 2023 cap.
First Round(initial round) Lottery for FY 2023
- USCIS conducted the first round lottery for FY 2023 season on March 25th, 2023.
- They quietly started alerting the employers about the H1B Lottery results starting from March 25th, 2023
- USCIS, on March 29th, 2022, made an official announcement that they had completed the first round of the H1B Lottery for FY 2023. Read USCIS update – H1B 2023 Lottery First Round done, Summary
- They updated that there were 484,000 H1B Registrations that were filed for FY 2023 season.
- USCIS said that based on historical data from the last couple of years and trends, they selected 127,600 H1B Registrations for FY 2023 Season.
- Read USCIS received 484K H1B registrations for FY 2023 season
H1B Visa Fiscal Year 2022 Season Cap Updates
Below are the updates for H1B Visa Fiscal Year(FY) 2022 on how the H1B cap was met.
Third Round Lottery for FY 2022 Season
USCIS announced that they conducted third-round lottery on Nov 19, 2021. Below is the summary:
- USCIS conducted third round H1B Lottery selection and selected 16,753 registrations.
- The third round lottery was conducted on the initial set of registrations that were waitlisted.
- In total, if we add up the first round selection of 87,500 registrations and second round selection of 27,717 with the third round of 16,753 it comes to 131,970 (87,500 + 27,717+16,753) total registrations selected so far for the FY 2022 Season.
- Check USCIS Official press release on FY 2022 – Third Round Lottery
Second Round Lottery for FY 2022 Season
USCIS announced that they conducted second-round lottery on July 28th, 2021. Below is the key summary:
- USCIS conducted second round H1B Lottery selection and selected 27,717 registrations.
- The second round lottery was conducted on the initial set of registrations that were waitlisted.
- In total, if we add up the first round selection of 87,500 registrations, it comes to 115,217 (87,500 + 27,717)total registrations selected so far for the FY 2022 Season.
- Check the Official USCIS Press Release for FY 2022 – Second Round Lottery
Initial (First) Lottery Results for FY 2022 Season
USCIS announced that they conducted initial lottery on March 30th, 2021. Below is the key summary:
- USCIS accepted H1B visa registrations for the FY 2022 season starting from March 9th, 2021 and it lasted for two weeks until March 25th, 2021
- There were total of 308,613 H1B Registrations filed by applications as part of the H1B Registration Process
- USCIS Selected 87,500 Registrations in first round H1B Visa lottery that was conducted on March 30th, 2021. The total H1B cap for the year is 85,000. So, basically for 85,00 slots, they selected 87,500 registrations.
- All the applicants selected in first round lottery were given an option to file H1B on their behalf from April 1st, until June 30th, 2021.
- In total there were about 37,000 H1B Employers who filed the registrations. Also, about 48% of all the H1B registrations submitted were for US Masters quota.
H1B Visa FY 2021 Season Cap Updates
This is the first year that USCIS has implemented the New H1B Registration Process and online registration system for submissions. Below are the updates for H1B Visa Fiscal Year 2021 and how the H1B visa cap was filled.
Second Round Lottery Details
- On Aug 14th, 2020, USCIS silently conducted second round lottery for FY 2021 Season.
- USCIS did not announce how many registrations were selected.
- The Second Round registration notices that were selected would say “August 2020 Selection of Reserve Registration”
- They will have filing period listed as “8/17/2020 – 11/16/2020”.
- User who are selected in second round can file H1B petitions starting from August 17th until November 16th, 2020.
First Round Lottery ( Initial Selection Results) Details
- USCIS announced on March 27th, 2020 that they have received enough registrations to reach the H1B FY 2021 Cap.
- USCIS received a whopping 275,000 unique H1B registrations or applications in the new H1B Registration online system for fiscal year 2021. This is the first time USCIS has received so many applications (registrations) in the history of H1B Program. The previous highest was 236,000 petitions in FY 2017.
- US Masters Registrations Count : USCIS for the first time gave the split during the filing season and they say about 46% of the petitions filed were in US Masters Category. If you look the numbers, it comes down to 126,500 applications or registrations.
- How many Employers – Accounts Created : There were 40,000 registration accounts created. Technically you can think of this as 40,000 employers have filed H1B registrations this year.
- Country Counts for Filings : USCIS says that India and China accounted for about 81% of the total submitted registrations. Below is the split.
- India H1B Registrations Count : 67.7% of total registrations = 186,175
- China H1B Registrations Count : 13.2% of total registrations = 36,300
H1B Visa FY 2020 Cap Season Updates
- USCIS started accepting petitions from April 1st, 2019 for FY 2020 season.
- USCIS accepted H1B petitions for the first 5 days and announced on April 5th, 2019 that they have received enough petitions to meet the H1B Cap for FY 2020. Check Press release
- USCIS announced on April 11th, 2019 that they completed H1B visa Lottery for 2020 quota. They mentioned that they have conducted H1B lottery on April 10th .
- They have received 201,011 H1B petitions for FY 2020 Quota
- They used a computer-generated random algorithm, which is popularly known as H1B Lottery, to select the petitions for FY 2020 quota.
- Lottery Order : USCIS confirmed that they used the New H1B Lottery Order for FY 2020, where first they conducted lottery for regular cap considering all received petitions to meet 65,000 quota and then conducted lottery to meet masters cap of 20,000 from the unselected US Master’s petitions from the first lottery pool. This is different order from all the previous years. This new order is based on the New H1B registration Rule that will be fully effective from FY 2021 season.
H1B Visa FY 2013 Cap Season Updates
- H1B Cap Season for FY 2013 started on April 1st, 2012. Applicants started submitting petitions from April 1st, 2012 onwards.
- H1B Visa 2013 Masters Cap was reached on June 7th, 2012
- H1B Visa 2013 Regular Quota Cap was reached on June 11th, 2012. USCIS said they would consider petitions they physically received on June 11th, 2012.
- USCIS gave updates on the cap counts they received every week until the cap was reached. The table below shows the USCIS updates by date and how much the cap was reached weekly:
| USCIS Update Date | Regular H1B Cap (65,000) | Advanced Degree Cap (20,000) |
| April 6, 2012(Unofficial) | 16,700 | 5,600 |
| April 9, 2012 (Official) | 17,400 | 8,200 |
| April 17, 2012 | 20,600 | 9,700 |
| April 23, 2012 | 25,000 | 10,900 |
| April 30, 2012 | 29,200 | 12,300 |
| May 8, 2012 | 32,500 | 13,700 |
| May 14, 2012 | 36,700 | 14,800 |
| May 22, 2012 | 42,000 | 16,000 |
| May 30, 2012 | 48,400 | 17,500 |
| June 5, 2012 | 55,600 | 18,700 |
| June 12, 2012 | 65,000 | 20,000 |
H1B Visa 2013 Regular Cap Count Trend Graph
Masters Degree H1B Visa 2013 Cap Count Trend Graph
H1B Visa FY 2012 Cap Season Updates
- H1B Cap Season for Fiscal Year 2012 started on April 1st, 2011. Applicants started submitting petitions from April 1st, 2011 onwards.
- USCIS gave updates on the cap counts they received every week until the cap reached.
- H1B Masters Cap for FY 2012 reached on October 25th, 2011
- H1B Regular Cap for FY 2012 reached on Nov 23rd, 201. The final receipt date for H1B petitions filed towards the FY 2012 quota was Nov 22, 2011
- The table below shows the USCIS updates by date and how much the cap was reached weekly:
| USCIS Update Date | Regular H1B Cap (65,000) | Advanced Degree Cap (20,000) |
| April 7, 2011 | 5,900 | 4,500 |
| April 18, 2011 | 7,100 | 5,100 |
| April 27, 2011 | 8,000 | 5,900 |
| May 2, 2011 | 9,200 | 6,600 |
| May 11, 2011 | 10,200 | 7,300 |
| May 18, 2011 | 11,200 | 7,900 |
| May 23, 2011 | 12,300 | 8,500 |
| May 31, 2011 | 13,100 | 9,000 |
| June 7, 2011 | 13,600 | 9,300 |
| June 14, 2011 | 15,200 | 10,200 |
| June 21, 2011 | 16,300 | 10,800 |
| June 28, 2011 | 17,400 | 11,300 |
| July 5, 2011 | 18,400 | 11,900 |
| July 12, 2011 | 19,000 | 12,200 |
| July 18, 2011 | 20,500 | 12,800 |
| July 26, 2011 | 21,600 | 13,300 |
| Aug 3, 2011 | 22,700 | 13,800 |
| Aug 15, 2011 | 25,300 | 14,700 |
| Aug 30, 2011 | 29,000 | 15,800 |
| Sep 9, 2011 | 32,200 | 16,700 |
| Oct 7, 2011 | 41,000 | 19,100 |
| Oct 18, 2011 | 43,300 | 19,600 |
| Oct 25, 2011 | 46,200 | 20,000 |
| Oct 31, 2011 | 49,200 | 20,000 |
| Nov 6th, 2011 | 50,800 | 20,000 |
| Nov 15th, 2011 | 56,300 | 20,000 |
| Nov 22nd, 2011 | 61,800 | 20,000 |
| Nov 23rd, 2011 | 65,000 | 20,000 |
H1B Visa FY 2011 Cap Season Updates
- H1B FY 2011 Cap Season started on April 1st, 2010
- Applicants started submitting petitions from April 1st, 2010 onwards.
- USCIS used to update every week, how the H1B cap was getting filled both in regular and masters quota.
- The US Masters quota cap for FY 2011 was met on Dec 28th, 2010
- H1B cap reached for FY 2011 reached as of January 26, 2011. They considered applications that had physically reached the USCIS office on January 26, 2011. NO post mark date!
- USCIS said they conducted a computer-generated random process, like a lottery, to select the applications that they received on January 26, 2011. Those applications that were not selected were rejected, and the fees were returned to the employer.
- Below is a table with USCIS update date and how much the cap was reached every week.
| USCIS Update on | Regular H1B Cap (65,000) | Advanced Degree Cap (20,000) |
| April 9, 2010 | 13,500 | 5,600 |
| April 19,2010 | 13,600 | 5,800 |
| April 26,2010 | 16,025 | 6,739 |
| May 3, 2010 | 16,500 | 6,900 |
| May 11, 2010 | 18,000 | 7,600 |
| May 18, 2010 | 19,000 | 8,100 |
| May 25, 2010 | 19,600 | 8,200 |
| June 2, 2010 | 20,800 | 8,700 |
| June 14, 2010 | 22,200 | 9,400 |
| June 24, 2010 | 22,900 | 9,700 |
| June 28, 2010 | 23,500 | 10,000 |
| July 7, 2010 | 24,200 | 10,400 |
| July 13, 2010 | 24,800 | 10,600 |
| July 20, 2010 | 25,300 | 11,000 |
| July 26, 2010 | 26,000 | 11,300 |
| Aug 3rd, 2010 | 27,300 | 11,600 |
| Aug 9th, 2010 | 28,500 | 11,900 |
| Aug 17th, 2010 | 29,700 | 12,300 |
| Aug 24th, 2010 | 33,900 | 12,600 |
| Aug 31st, 2010 | 34,900 | 13,000 |
| Sep 7th, 2010 | 36,600 | 13,400 |
| Sep 13th, 2010 | 37,400 | 13,700 |
| Sep 21st, 2010 | 38,300 | 14,000 |
| Sep 28th, 2010 | 39,600 | 14,400 |
| Oct 5th, 2010 | 40,600 | 14,900 |
| Oct 13th, 2010 | 41,900 | 15,400 |
| Oct 19th, 2010 | 42,800 | 15,700 |
| Oct 27th, 2010 | 44,300 | 16,200 |
| Nov 2nd, 2010 | 45,600 | 16,700 |
| Nov 9th, 2010 | 46,800 | 17,200 |
| Nov 16th, 2010 | 47,800 | 17,400 |
| Nov 23rd, 2010 | 48,977 | 17,836 |
| Nov 30th, 2010 | 50,400 | 18,400 |
| Dec 7th, 2010 | 51,200 | 18,700 |
| Dec 13th, 2010 | 52,400 | 19,100 |
| Dec 21st, 2010 | 53,900 | 19,700 |
| Dec 28th, 2010 | 55,800 | 20,000 |
| Jan 3rd, 2011 | 57,300 | 20,000 |
| Jan 10th, 2011 | 58,700 | 20,000 |
| Jan 18th, 2011 | 60,700 | 20,000 |
| Jan 24th, 2011 | 62,800 | 20,000 |
| Jan 26th, 2011 | 65,000 | 20,000 |
H1B Visa FY 2010 Cap Season Updates
- H1B FY 2010 cap season started on April 1st, 2009 and employers started filing petitions from that date.
- H1B FY 2010 Cap was reached on December 21,2009.
- We do not have data for Masters Cap quota tracking and only have it for Regular cap quota tracking by date. Below tables shows the USCIS update date and how much the cap was reached every week for regular cap quota.
| USCIS Update Date | H1B Count of Regular petitions received |
| April 8, 2009 USCIS Update | USCIS Still Accepting H1B |
| April 20, 2009 USCIS Update | 44,000 |
| April 27, 2009 USCIS Update | 45,000 |
| May 4 , 2009 USCIS Update | 45,000 |
| May 11, 2009 USCIS Update | 45,000 |
| May 18, 2009 USCIS Update | 45,500 |
| May 22, 2009 | 45,700 |
| May 29, 2009 | 45,800 |
| June 5, 2009 | 44,400 |
| June 12, 2009 | 44,500 |
| June 19, 2009 | 44,500 |
| June 26, 2009 | 44,800 |
| July 3, 2009 | 45,000 |
| July 10,2009 | 44,900 |
| July 24,2009 | 44,900 |
| August 7,2009 | 44,900 |
| August 14,2009 | 45,000 |
| August 28,2009 | 45,100 |
| September 18, 2009 | 46,000 |
| September 25, 2009 | 46,700 |
| October 25,2009 | 52,800 |
| November 6, 2009 | 54,700 |
| November 18,2009 | 55,600 |
| November 20,2009 | 56,900 |
| November 27,2009 | 58,900 |
| December 4,2009 | 61,100 |
| December 8,2009 | 61,500 |
| December 10,2009 | 62,500 |
| December 11,2009 | 62,900 |
| December 15,2009 | 64,200 |
| December 21,2009 | 65,000 |