What is the Importance of H1-1B Registration?
“Under this new process, employers seeking H-1B workers subject to the cap, or their authorized representatives, will complete a registration process that requires only basic information about their company and each requested worker.”
What is the Timeline For The Initial Registration Period?
- USCIS will open an initial registration period from March 1 through March 20, 2020.
- The H-1B random selection process, if needed, will then be run on those electronic registrations.
- Only those with selected registrations will be eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.
What Is The Cost of Electronic Registration of H-1B?
- It only costs $10 to first electronically register.
- Employers seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions for the fiscal year 2021 cap, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption should pay $10
How is the Proposed System Efficient From the Previous One?
According to USCIS Deputy Director Mark Koumas:
“By streamlining the H-1B cap selection process with a new electronic registration system, USCIS is creating cost savings and efficiencies for petitioners and the agency, as only those selected will now be required to submit a full petition,”
- Historically, employers filed their full, and often voluminous, H-1B cap-subject petitions with USCIS
- The old process resulted in unnecessary paperwork and incurred mailing costs for both petitioners and the agency
- It is a first step to modernizing USCIS from paper-based to an online-filing agency
What are the Steps for Registration?
- USCIS will post step-by-step instructions informing registrants how to complete the registration process on its website
- It will also post key dates and timelines as the initial registration period nears
- USCIS will also conduct public engagements and other outreach activities to ensure registrants and interested parties are familiar with the new registration system
- The agency may also determine it is necessary to continue accepting registrations or open an additional registration period
- if it does not receive enough registrations and subsequent petitions projected to reach the numerical allocations
Information Needs To Be Filled in Registration :
- Employer / Sponsor Info: Employer’s Name, Employer Identification Number, Mailing Address, Authorized representative’s name, title, contact info like phone, email
- Beneficiary / Applicant’ General Info: Full name, Gender, Passport number, Date of Birth, Country of Citizenship and Country of Birth.
- Beneficiary / Applicant’ US Education Info: Info regarding applicant’s US Master’s or higher education
- Immigration Attorney info: Details of accredited representative and as needed form G-28
- Additional Info: Also, any additional information as required by the new electronic system
- Attestation: H1B Sponsors / Petitioners are required to attest in the pre-registration system that all the contents of registrations are true and accurate and they plan to employ the beneficiary as submitted in the registration
Suggested Plan of Action After the Lottery.
- The people selected in the lottery will have 90 days to file their petition with the USCIS.
- To beat the wave of applicants, it is important to start early, assess the eligibility and file the H-1B as soon as the lottery is over.
It’s Useful to Know What is NOT a Requirement for the Electronic Registration:
- USCIS will not require petitioners to enter their corporate information for every beneficiary as it is a redundant task
- LCA needs to be submitted with the H1B petition during filing for selected registrants
- There is no need to submit wage offered, and other details related to conditions of employment during registration
How Many Times Can an Individual Applicant Register?
- One employer can only submit one registration for one H1B applicant or beneficiary
- If more than one registration is filed for a beneficiary, then all of those registrations filed for those beneficiaries will be considered invalid
- However, USCIS does not prohibit an H1B applicant or beneficiary to have multiple employers unrelated to each other.
Still, have questions about the H-1B registration process?
Please get in touch with us to learn more and to find out your next steps.
Please note this a follow-up article about of H1B Registration Process. The original article can be found here, which explains and compares the process change in detail. It can be found here.