On May 2, 2016, USCIS announced that it had completed its random selection of H-1B petition “lottery” winners for cap-subject H-1B filings for fiscal year 2017. For those petitions selected, USCIS asks petitioners to wait until they receive a fee receipt. For those petitioner not selected, USCIS will begin returning those petitions. The process will take some time owning to the high volume of H-1B petitions submitted, and USCIS will announce when it has returned all non-selected petitions. To balance the cap subject H-1B workload, the Vermont Service Center will transfer a portion of its H-1B workload to the California Service Center. If a petitioner did not request Premium Processing, but had their petition selected and now want to Premium Process their petition, USCIS asks those petitioners to wait to determine which Service Center will process the H-1B filing before submitting a Premium Processing Request.
