Initial registration opens for H-1B visas for FY 2023; USCIS to conduct a lottery if it receives enough registrations by March 18
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received a sufficient number of petitions needed to reach the congressionally mandated cap of 85,000 for H-1B visas coveted by Indian professionals for fiscal year 2022.
These include 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa US advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap petitions, the immigration agency announced Monday.
USCIS said it has completed sending non-selection notifications to registrants’ online accounts. The status for registrations properly submitted for the FY 2022 H-1B numerical allocations, but that were not selected, will now show: Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.
Read: USCIS opens H-1B registration for FY 2023 on March 1 (January 29, 2022)
USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are otherwise exempt from the cap. Petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have been counted previously against the cap, and who still retain their cap number, are exempt from the FY 2022 H-1B cap, it said.
The immigration agency said it will continue to accept and process petitions filed to:
Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the US;
Change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers;
Allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and
Allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in additional H-1B positions.
In recent years, about 70% of H-1B visas used by US businesses to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations, have gone to high skilled Indian professionals.
Meanwhile, USCIS Tuesday opened initial registration for H-1B visas for fiscal year 2023 starting Oct 1. The registration process will continue through March 18.
Read: All that you need to know about H-1B 2023 lottery (February 7, 2022)
Petitioners and their representatives need to complete and submit their registrations using USCIS’ online H-1B registration system. USCIS will assign a confirmation number to each registration submitted for the FY 2023 H-1B cap. This number is used solely to track registrations. This number cannot be used to track one’s case status in Case Status Online.
Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners or their representatives are 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, USCIS said.
Prospective petitioners submitting their own registrations (US employers and US agents, collectively known as “registrants”) have to use a “registrant” account.
Read: USCIS Reaches Fiscal Year 2022 H-1B Cap (February 28, 2022)
Prospective petitioners or their representatives will be able to submit registrations for multiple beneficiaries in a single online session. Through the account, they will be able to prepare, edit, and store draft registrations prior to final payment and submission of each registration.
If the USCIS receives enough registrations by March 18, it will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications via users’ myUSCIS online accounts. USCIS said it intended to notify account holders by March 31.