First of all, though USCIS has announced numerous operational changes (including a temporary reprieve from the requirement for wet ink signatures, and the – not unexpected – suspension of premium processing) at this time they have not announced any changes to the cap lottery and filing timeline. 

Here’s what you can expect:
March 31: Date by which USCIS intends to notify selected registrants.
April 1: The earliest date that FY 2021 H-1B cap-subject petitions may be filed.
Registration Selection Notifications USCIS intends to notify registrants (employers) and their representatives (attorneys) with selected registrations via their USCIS online accounts no later than March 31, 2020. A registrant’s USCIS online account will show one of the four following statuses for each registration:
Submitted: A registration status may continue to show “Submitted” after the initial selection process has been completed. “Submitted” registrations will remain in consideration for selection until the end of the fiscal year, at which point all registration statuses will be Selected, Not Selected or Denied.
Selected: Selected to file an FY 2021 H-1B cap-subject petition.
NotSelected: Not selected for this fiscal year.

• Please note that a registration will not reflect a status of Not Selected until the conclusion of the fiscal year. In the event that USCIS determines that it needs to increase the number of registrations projected to meet the H-1B regular cap or the advanced degree exemption allocation, USCIS will select from registrations held in reserve to meet the H-1B regular cap or advanced degree exemption allocation.

Denied: The same registrant or representative submitted more than one registration on the beneficiary’s behalf for the same fiscal year. All registrations the registrant or representative submitted on behalf of the same beneficiary for the same fiscal year are invalid.
H-1B cap-subject beneficiaries, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, must have a “Selected” registration notification in order for a registrant or representative to properly file an H-1B cap-subject petition for FY 2021. Registrants and representatives will not receive non-selection notifications until the conclusion of the fiscal year. Until that time, the status of registrations not selected as part of any initial random selection process and not denied will remain as “Submitted.”
As always, feel free to contact us with any questions, to schedule a consultation, or to initiate an H-1B filing.