The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will soon announce the fiscal year 2024 H-1B registration period. This is an important time of the year for employers wishing to sponsor a candidate for a cap H-1B visa in Fiscal Year 2024.

Employers will compete in a lottery for 65,000 H-1B regular cap selections and an additional 20,000 Master’s cap selections. The Master’s cap selections are set aside for foreign nationals with a U.S. Master’s or higher degree. In general, first time beneficiaries of an H-1B petition typically include foreign students in F-1 status, TN Professionals, E-1 Traders, E-2 Investors, E-3 Specialty Occupation Workers, and also foreign national employees working abroad and seeking relocation to the United States. These H-1B petitions are subject to the cap, unless the employer is a cap-exempt organization. To qualify, one must have a U.S. job offer in a professional-level position that requires at least a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, and the individual must also have such educational credentials. USCIS will conduct the lottery for registrations and announce selected registrants on or about April 1, 2023 with the potential for further announcements if an insufficient number of registrants were selected.

Interested employers should initiate the registration process as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for analysis and submission of the registration by the end of the period, which has historically been in the third week of March. While the H-1B registration has streamlined the lottery portion of the process, it is prudent for employers to review pertinent SOC classifications for the job offered, prevailing wages, and eligibility for the Master’s cap.