H-1B Lottery Registration Opens March 1
It's that time of the year again! The registration period for this year's H-1B visa lottery runs from Tuesday, March 1 at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST to Friday, March 18 at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST. We highly recommend registering early on during this period so there is time to accommodate any system glitches or crashes before the registration period closes on March 18. If you would like us to assist you with the H-1B registration process, please contact us by Thursday, February 24, at the latest so we can help you get set up and confirm eligibility for H-1B classification.
Before the registration period opens on March 1, employers will need to create a company account under myUSCIS as an “H-1B Registrant. ” This document (pages 1-8) walks you through the account creation process.
If you created an account last year for the annual lottery, please be sure to confirm login credentials and that the account can still be accessed.
The purpose of employer registration is to make sure you can verify and confirm all the H-1B candidates we will register on your behalf. You do not need to register the H-1B candidates or pay the $10 registration fee for each candidate. We handle that part. Once you have registered your company with USCIS, please let us know so we can start registering your H-1B candidates on March 1, 2022.
Once we have registered your candidates, we will send you a (long) passcode from our attorney USCIS account that you will need to enter into your account so we can complete the registration(s) on your behalf. Essentially, the password syncs your account with our account, and allows you to see all the employees we have registered on your behalf. It also asks you to confirm that we are your representative in these matters. This document (pages 9-21) shows you how the attorney-client syncing process occurs. Please be sure to enter the password as soon as you can so we can complete the registration before the window closes on March 18.
When the registration period closes on March 18, USCIS will run the lottery. It will notify employers and their attorneys of the selected registrations by March 31, 2021, following which employers have 90 days to file complete H-1B petitions on behalf of their prospective H-1B employees. This document (pages 22-23) shows how the status of your registrations will look if they have been selected or not. Please note that USCIS will deny any duplicate entries on behalf of the same candidate.
As a summary, here’s the H-1B Registration Process Timeline:
February 21: Prospective petitioners may begin creating H-1B registrant accounts at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST. (account creation will remain open throughout the entire registration period).
March 1: H-1B registration period opens at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST.
March 18: H-1B registration period closes at 9 AM PST / 12 PM EST.
March 31: Date by which USCIS intends to notify selected registrants.
April 1: The earliest date that H-1B petitions may be filed.
This alert is for informational purposes only. Please contact me if you would like to discuss this development further.