The H-1B quota registration process for fiscal year 2023 will open Noon Eastern on Tuesday, March 1st and run until Noon Eastern on March 18th. Each year, 65,000 initial H-1B visas are available through the regular H-1B quota with an additional 20,000 available for individuals who have earned a U.S. Master’s (or higher) degree.
Under the H-1B quota registration process, prospective H-1B petitioners (also known as registrants), and their authorized representatives, seeking to employ H-1B workers subject to the H-1B quota, complete an electronic registration process providing basic information about the employer and each requested worker. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conducts the H-1B random selection process (or lottery) on the properly submitted electronic registrations. If a particular registration is selected, USCIS sends notification via the myUSCIS online account, and the employer can then proceed to file an H-1B quota petition with USCIS for the selected beneficiary. Only those with selected registrations will be eligible to file H-1B quota petitions. USCIS has indicated that it intends to notify account holders of selection results by March 31st.
The number of registrations this year is expected to be high. For fiscal year 2022, USCIS received 308,613 H-1B registrations and initially selected 87,500 registrations. Due to low filing volume from the initial selection, additional selections were made on July 28th and November 19th resulting in a total of 131,970 selected registrations. For fiscal year 2021, USCIS received 274,237 H-1B registrations and initially selected 106,100 registrations. A second selection was conducted in August 2020 of an additional 18,315 registrations, resulting in a total of 124,415 selected registrations. In both fiscal years 2021 and 2022, approximately 50% of the registrations received by the USCIS requested the U.S. Master’s (or higher) degree exemption.
Clients who have not yet forwarded to our firm their quota registration documentation for current and prospective employees are encouraged to do so immediately so that the registrations can be timely filed before the fiscal year 2023 H-1B quota registration closes on March 18th.
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