On May 15, 2018, approximately one-month after completing its selections, USCIS announced that it has finished its data entry for all H-1B Cap Petitions selected in the Fiscal Year 2019 Lottery. With that, the agency will commence its return of all un-selected H-1B Cap Petitions, along with their accompanying government filing fees. USCIS cannot provide a timeline for this process, but we should expect returns over the course of the next month.
We remain hopeful that we will receive confirmation of additional H-1B Cap selections over the next few days. Moreover, we cannot absolutely confirm a case was not selected until the returned Petition arrived at our office. However, at this point, it is safe to assume that if we have not confirmed your Petition was selected, it is most likely that it did not get picked in this year's Lottery.
If your Petition was not selected in this year's H-1B Cap, you may be required to take immediate action to maintain your lawful presence in the United States. While always essential, USCIS' new guidelines with respect to unlawful presence for F, J, and M students makes maintaining a valid status more important than ever. Therefore, please do not hesitate to contact our office to discuss viable options if your H-1B Petition was not selected in this year's H-1B Cap Lottery.
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