U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Friday that the registration period for fiscal year 2024 H-1B cap numbers will open at noon Eastern on Wednesday March 1, 2023, and run through noon Eastern on Friday, March 17, 2023. During this period, prospective U.S. employers and U.S. agents (collectively referred to as “registrants”) will be able to complete and submit H-1B registrations using USCIS’s online H-1B registration system. All registrations received for the fiscal year 2024 cap will be assigned a confirmation number, which will be used to track registrations.
As in previous years, registrants will be required to use a myUSCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each registration submitted on behalf of each beneficiary. Registrants will be able to create new “registrant” accounts beginning at noon Eastern on Tuesday, February 21, but must wait until March 1 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $10 fee. Registrants will be able to submit registrations for multiple beneficiaries in a single online session.
If, as anticipated, USCIS receives enough registrations by March 17 to meet the H-1B annual cap, USCIS will randomly select registrations. USCIS intends to notify those selected via registrants’ myUSCIS online accounts by March 31.
Broadly speaking, H-1B classification is an employer-sponsored nonimmigrant category for those who will perform services in a specialty occupation that requires a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. It is important to note there is an annual fiscal-year limit of 65,000 new H-1B numbers available. This is commonly known as the “H-1B cap.” The law provides an additional 20,000 H-1B numbers for foreign professionals who have earned a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution of higher education. Certain employers and foreign nationals are exempt from the cap and do not need to participate in the H-1B registration process. These include:
- Foreign national professionals employed at an institution of higher education;
- Nonprofit entities related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education;
- Nonprofit research organizations;
- Governmental research organizations; and
- Foreign nationals now in H-1B status who were already counted towards the cap (e.g., petitions to extend the H-1B stay, to amend the H-1B petition, etc.).
