USCIS gets 483,927 H-1B registrations for FY 2023; Selected registrants have to file visa applications by June 30
Keeping up the trend of recent years Indians bagged about 301,000 H-1B visas for high skilled foreign workers or nearly three fourths of the total 407,000 in FY 2021 ended Sep 30.
To be exact at 74.1%, this marked only a slight dip in terms of numbers from FY 2020 when Indians received 319,000 visas (74.9%) out of 426,000 visas approved, according to a Department of Homeland Security report to the US Congress.
China, the second top country of birth of H-1B recipients, lagged far behind with only 50,328 China-born individuals getting H-1B visas or 12.4% of the total. Similarly in FY 2020, only 51,597 China-born individuals or 12.1% of the total were successful in obtaining an H-1B visa.
As in the previous years, the highest number of approved visas in a profession, 280,000 or 68.8% of the total in FY 2021 went to workers in computer related occupations.
Read: H-1B initial electronic registration selection for FY 2023 completed (March 30, 2022)
The highest educational attainment of 56.6 % of recipients with an approved H-1B petition in FY 2021 was a master’s degree. In addition, 33.7 % of approved petitions were for workers with a bachelor’s degree, 6.8 % had a doctorate, and 2.9 % had a professional degree.
With an overall median age of 33 years, the median salary of H-1B recipients worked out to $108,000, a slight rise of 6.9% over fiscal 2020.
Meanwhile, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received 483,927 H-1B registrations for the FY 2023 ending Sep 30, 2023, a 56,8% increase over FY 2022 when it received 308,613  H-1B registrations.
The immigration agency has initially selected 127,600 registrations projected as needed to reach the FY 2023 cap of 85,000, including 20,000 with advanced degrees from US institutions.
Those with selected registrations will have their myUSCIS accounts updated to include a selection notice, which includes details about when and where to file, USCIS said.
In making the selections USCIS said it takes into account historical data related to approvals, denials, revocations, and other relevant factors to calculate the number of petitions needed to meet the H-1B cap for a given fiscal year.
For the fiscal 2023 filing season, registrations were submitted by more than 48,000 prospective petitioners and roughly 31% of the eligible registrations requested were for the master’s cap.
Sponsoring employers whose registrations were accepted have to file the visa applications by June 30 – the close of the filing season.
This will be followed by processing of the applications including calling for more information – if need be. The earliest selected H-1B cap workers can commence work under this visa in the US will be Oct 1.
If the number of visa applications received by June 30 falls short of the annual quota for fiscal 2023, a second lottery could be conducted.
For FY 2022,  USCIS had initially selected  only 87,500 registrations projected as needed to reach the FY 2022 cap. It conducted a second selection in July 2021 and a third selection in November 2021 to make a total of 131,970 selected registrations for FY22.
Read: Indians Top US Choice For H-1B Visas, Bag 74% of Total Issued in 2021 (April 15, 2022)
Going forward USCIS said, it will open an initial registration period for a minimum of 14 calendar days each fiscal year. The H-1B selection process will then be run on properly submitted electronic registrations.
Only those with selected registrations will be eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions. Selections will take place after the initial registration period closes, so there is no requirement to register on the day the initial registration period opens.
H-1B electronic registration process for the H-1B cap was introduced in 2020. Prospective petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions, including for beneficiaries eligible for the advanced degree exemption, must first electronically register and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each prospective beneficiary.