On January 9, 2020, USCIS published a notice in the Federal Register to formally announce the implementation of the new registration process for H-1B cap-subject (lottery) petitions for fiscal year 2021. According to USCIS, the initial H-1B petition registration period will run from March 1 through March 20, 2020, and selected registrants will be notified no later than March 31, 2020. Employers may submit full petitions and supporting evidence for selected employees within the filing period to be specified by USCIS.
How to Register
During the registration period, employers seeking to file a FY 2021 H‐1B cap-subject petition will be required to electronically submit a separate registration request naming each sponsored employee. Employers may only submit one registration per sponsored employee in any fiscal year. Duplicate registrations are prohibited.
A $10 non-refundable registration fee will be required for each H-1B cap registration at the time of submission. The registration system will allow for batch payments to pay the fee for multiple registrations submitted simultaneously by the same employer. Corporate and payment information will only need to be entered once for each batch of registrations.
What to Register
As mentioned in our December 10 blog post, the electronic registration form will request basic information about the petitioning employer (legal name, FEIN, primary address, and name, job title, phone number, and email address of authorized point of contact) and each sponsored employee (name, gender, date and country of birth, citizenship, passport number, and whether the candidate has a U.S. master’s or higher degree). No information regarding the offered position, such as the job title, offered salary, or minimum job requirements, will be required as part of the electronic registration process.
When to Register
The initial registration period will open on March 1. USCIS intends to close the initial registration period on March 20, 2020, although it could announce a later end date on its website in the unlikely event that it has not received sufficient registrations by that date. All registrations submitted during the registration period will be included in the random selection process if USCIS determines it has received more than enough registrations to meet the numerical limitations, regardless of whether a registration was submitted on the first or the last day of the registration period. By way of background, a statutory quota limits cap-subject H-1B petitions to 85,000 per year (65,000 regular petitions and 20,000 for candidates with a U.S. master’s or higher degree). A lottery process has been needed every year since FY 2014, so it is very likely to be necessary again in FY 2021.
Registration Selection
If needed, the H-1B lottery will be run on the electronic registrations USCIS receives during the registration period. USCIS intends to notify employers with selected registrations no later than March 31, 2020. Employers will be eligible to file a FY 2021 cap‐subject petition only for employees named in the selected registrations and within the filing period specified by USCIS.
There are still many unknowns about the new registration process. Employers should work with their immigration counsel to stay up to date about any further developments on the new process and strategize to successfully navigate this unique H-1B season.
Please keep in mind that not all H-1B petitions are subject to the annual cap (for example, extensions, amendments, changes of employer, and cap-exempt employers) and certain foreign nationals may be eligible for nonimmigrant visa categories other than H-1B (for example, TN, L-1, E). Please consult legal counsel for an individualized assessment.
Opinions and conclusions in this post are solely those of the author unless otherwise indicated. The information contained in this blog is general in nature and is not offered and cannot be considered as legal advice for any particular situation. The author has provided the links referenced above for information purposes only and by doing so, does not adopt or incorporate the contents. Any federal tax advice provided in this communication is not intended or written by the author to be used, and cannot be used by the recipient, for the purpose of avoiding penalties which may be imposed on the recipient by the IRS. Please contact the author if you would like to receive written advice in a format which complies with IRS rules and may be relied upon to avoid penalties.
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