by Jennifer Grady, Esq.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on January 28, 2022 that the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2023 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 1, and run through noon Eastern on March 18, 2022. During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives will be able to complete and submit their registrations using USCIS’ online H-1B registration system.
After receiving the registration, USCIS will then assign a confirmation number to each registration submitted for the FY 2023 H-1B cap. This number is used solely to track registrations, and cannot be used to track case status in CaseStatus Online.
Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners or their representatives are required to use a myUSCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $10.00 H-1B registration fee for each registration submitted on behalf of each beneficiary. Prospective petitioner submitting their own registrations (U.S. employers and U.S. agents, collectively known as “registrants”) will use a “registrant” account. Registrants will be able to create new accounts beginning at noon Eastern on February 21.
Representatives may add clients to their accounts at any time, but both representatives and registrants must wait until March 1 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $10.00 fee. Prospective petitioners or their representatives will be able to submit registrations for multiple beneficiaries in a single online session. Through the account, they will be able to prepare, edit, and store registrations prior to final payment and submission of each registration.
If USCIS receives enough registrations by March 18, it will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications via users’ myUSCIS online accounts. USCIS intend to notify account holders by March 31. Use of the lottery is almost guaranteed, as there were 308,613 registrations for FY 2022, but USCIS only initially selected 87,500 registrations to reach the FY 2022 numerical allocations. On July 29, 2021, USCIS announced that it conducted a second selection of an additional 27,717 registrations. This resulted in a total of 115,217 selected registrations. On Nov. 19, 2021, USCIS announced that it conducted a third selection of an additional 16,753 registrations, resulting in a total of 131,970 selected registrations. Based on this schedule, some applicants who were selected in August and November lottery drawings would not start their H-1B visa until well after the intended October 1 start date.
In the previous year for FY 2021, USCIS received 274,237 H-1B registrations and initially selected 106,100 registrations in anticipation of reaching the FY 2021 numerical allocations. USCIS conducted a second selection in August 2020 of an additional 18,315 registrations due to low filing volume from the initial selection. This resulted in a total of 124,415 selected registrations.
An H-1B cap-subject petition, including a petition for a beneficiary who is eligible for the advanced degree exemption, may only be filed by a petitioner whose registration for the beneficiary named in the H-1B petition was selected in the H-1B registration process.
Next Steps After Lottery Selection
If an application is selected during the registration process, the applicant will have 90 days to file an I-129 petition with USCIS.
April 1 is the earliest date that FY 2022 H-1B cap-subject petitions may be filed.
August 2 is the earliest date that FY 2022 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected for the second filing period may be filed.
November 22 is the earliest date that FY 2022 H-1B cap-subject petitions selected for the third period may be filed.
For more information on your eligibility for the H-1B Visa, please contact our office at info@gradyfirm.com, or call us at (949) 798-6298.
You can also book a call on our calendar at https://www.gradyfirm.com/schedule.
The Grady Firm works with dynamic employers and employees across the country to prepare successful employment-based visa and Green Card applications. In addition, we help individuals, families, employees, business owners, and investors obtain non-immigrant and immigrant visas (B-1/B2, H-1B, H-2B, L-1A, L-1B, O-1, TN, E-2, E-3), as well and Green Cards and citizenship based on family relationships, investment, or employment.
This article is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. This article does not make any guarantees as to the outcome of a particular matter, as each matter has its own set of circumstances and must be evaluated individually by a licensed attorney.