United States Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting H-1B petitions on April 2, and on April 6, USCIS announced that it had received more petitions than the entire H-1B cap for Fiscal Year 2019 allows. As in years past, USCIS will conduct a lottery to determine which employers will be able to employ the workers they chose to sponsor.

If not cap-exempt, Congress limits H-1B new hires to 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for individuals who graduated with an advanced degree from U.S. universities that meet certain requirements.