On January 28, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the registration dates for FY 2023 H-1B cap filings with the agency. Filing submission dates are March 1, 2022, at 12 p.m. ET and the registration period ends on March 18, 2022, at 12 p.m. ET. As in the past, USCIS will implement a random computerized lottery system to select the registrations for which H-1B cap petitions may be submitted. We previously outlined the nature of the H-1B petition and the criteria to qualify for the visa here.

Important Facts

• Prospective U.S. H-1B employers that are not yet registered with USCIS may set up a ‘Registrant” account in the myUSCIS system – commencing on February 21 at 12 p.m.;
• U.S. registrant companies may also link their company’s registration with attorney accounts after the U.S. company has set up its own registrant account;
• Employers may submit up to 250 H-1B beneficiaries in a single registration submission and there is no limit on the number of registrations a U.S. petitioning company may submit.

H-1B Cap Selection Process

This year, as in the past, USCIS is expected to receive an excess number of H-1B petitions than required to meet the annual quota of 85,000 submissions.

It is expected that USCIS will conduct two lotteries to select enough beneficiaries for the H-1B cap – 65,000 selections for beneficiaries, who would qualify for the ‘regular’ cap, for those in possession of a U.S. Bachelor’s degree or foreign equivalent, and an additional 20,000 selections for those who would meet the advanced-degree cap exemption of 20,000. To qualify for the advanced-cap of 20,000 H-1B visas, a foreign national must possess a U.S. Master's degree. The Master’s degree must be from a U.S. institution only and may not rely on a graduate degree from a non-U.S. institution.

USCIS plans to notify winning registrants by March 31, and thereafter, submission of the actual H-1B petitions would occur in the 90-day period between April 1, 2022, and June 30, 2022.

Consideration of the timing of the filing of the H-1B selected petitions should include whether a foreign student will be covered with “cap-gap” protection and whether a petition might be submitted with premium processing or not.

How to Take Action and Apply to the H-1B Random Lottery

If you or your company are interested in submitting an H-1B pre-registration submission, it is recommended you secure the following information for the USCIS lottery submission:

• Full legal name of U.S. company
• FEIN Number
• Address of U.S. company and location of employment
• For the beneficiary – Full legal name, gender, date of birth, country of birth, country of citizenship, passport number, and any information available concerning the educational background of the beneficiary.

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