The H-1B process will undergo the much anticipated electronic registration process from March 1 through March 20, 2020, for fiscal year 2021 H-1B cases.
- During this time period, all H-1B employers filing cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption, who want to file a H-1B cap petitions for fiscal year 2021 will be required to first register electronically with USCIS and pay the $10 H-1B registration fee for each petition. The fiscal year 2021 runs from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.
- Duplicate registrations are not allowed.
- Prospective employers or their attorneys must submit a separate registration with the name of each alien for whom they intend to file an H-1B cap-subject petition.
- Employers are allowed to register multiple aliens during a single online submission but they may only submit one registration per employee in a fiscal year. Filing more than one registration for a single employee will invalidate all registrations for that employee.
- If USCIS receives more registrations than fiscal year 2021 available H-1B numbers, currently capped at 65,000 for Bachelor’s degree candidates with an additional 20,000 for US master’s degree applicants, it will randomly select the number of registrations projected to reach the 2021 fiscal year H-1B numbers. USCIS will notify registrants who were selected by March 31, 2020.
- Only if an employer is chosen in the registration lottery will that employer be allowed to file a H-1B petition and only for the alien named in the registration and within the filing period indicated on the eligibility notice.