New H-1B petition electronic registration process to run from March 1 to 20.
The festive season is over and just as many in the Northern hemisphere may be getting cozy to deal with the cold and snow ahead, for many working professionals hoping to secure an H-1B visa to US, very soon the season of paperwork and patient wait would arrive.
The H-1B season as it has come to be known in visa hopefuls’ circles will officially kick off from March 1 and run through March 20, according to USCIS.
Earlier, on Jan 9, USCIS also published a notice in the federal register that formally announced the implementation of the new registration process for H-1B petitions for fiscal year 2021.
The initial wait for those who register will not be long as USCIS will notify the selected registrants no later than March 31.
How the new electronic registration works?
Employers who are seeking to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for fiscal year 2021, will be first required to electronically submit a registration request where they would be naming each of the sponsored employees.
Employers are required to submit one application for each sponsored employee during a fiscal year. A $10 non-refundable registration fee will be levied for each registration as announced by the USCIS last year.
The electronic registration would require the employer to fill out a form detailing basic information such as the employer’s name, job title, contact details as well as sponsored employee’s name, citizenship, passport number
as well as qualifications.
The dates to remember
The registration period will begin from March 1 and will continue through March 20. If the USCIS ends up getting more registrations than the intended numbers there will be a random selection process for all applications.
The H-1B quota limit is 85,000 petitions per year including 65,000 for regular applicants and 20,000 for those with a US master’s degree.
It may be noted that every year the quota gets filled within a few days of opening of the registration process and a lottery process is needed to sort out the selected petitions.
Registration picked
The selected registrations will be notified this year by March 31. It must be noted that the employers would only be able to file petitions for only the candidates picked up during the registration process.
The employers then can go on to file a cap-subject petition for fiscal year 2021. Since this is the first year for the new electronic registration process, USCIS is expected to notify the employers about any other requirement.
READ MORE:
Is H-1B anxiety playing havoc with Indian lives in America? (January 17, 2020)
DHS announces additional $10 fee for H1-B electronic registration (September 3, 2019)
On H-1B day, a new report urges Congress to increase the H1-B cap (April 2, 2019)
H1-B filing season begins April 1. What can one expect this year? (March 18, 2019)
Can H1-B Premium Processing result in increased scrutiny, more RFEs? (March 13, 2019)
Indian American arrested on H1-B, naturalization fraud charges (February 6, 2019)
Indian American family faces deportation for $20 million H-1B visa fraud scheme (December 29, 2017)
H-1B Visa fraud: Indian American Sunitha Guntipally gets four years (December 6, 2017)
USCIS prepares to double on-site visits to detect H-1B visa and L-1 visa frauds (November 30, 2017)