USCIS announced yesterday that the H-1B cap for next fiscal year (starting October 1, 2019) was reached. Again. We will find out in the coming months how many petitions were submitted.

This is ridiculous. In a robust economy where workers are scarce, employers should not have to spend thousands of dollars on a lottery ticket to be able to hire a worker.

Until Congress increases the H-1B numbers, this will be a problem. USCIS announced that they will be changing procedures for submitting petitions soon. The goal is to reduce the amount of work that employers will have to do to be considered in the lottery. We do not know if they will start the implementation next year, but we have to start planning for it.

I have two recommendations for employers who use the H-1B visa system:

1) Call your US representative and US senator and tell them the H-1B cap needs to be increased.

2) Call your immigration attorney in December to start planning for how next year's H-1B lottery will be run.