UPDATE 02/24/2021: Prospective petitioners may use H-1B registrant accounts created last year, if applicable. Otherwise, they may begin creating new H-1B registrant accounts in MyUSCIS by selecting the “I am an H-1B registrant” account type, which will become available on March 2, 2021, at noon (ET) and remain available throughout the registration period.
USCIS has confirmed that H-1B lottery registration will remain unchanged from last year year. The H-1B registration system (an online based system) will handle the Lottery selection process. On February 5, 2021, USCIS announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year (FY) 2022 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 9 and run through noon Eastern on March 25. During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives will be able to fill out petitioner and beneficiary information and submit their registrations.
Lottery results will be released sometime during late March. Once results are released, petitioners will have 90 days to file H-1B petitions for their selected Beneficiaries.
Information needed for Registration should a be similar to last year (see below). Additional information, step-by-step registration instructions, and helpful videos are available on the H-1B Electronic Registration Process page. We recommend our corporate client to start preparing for these items now so that we may help them register in March.
REGISTRANT INFORMATION (Company):
- Legal name of the prospective petitioning company or organization
- The Doing Business As names of the prospective petitioning company or organization, if applicable
- Employer identification number (EIN) of the prospective petitioning company or organization
- Primary U.S. office address of the prospective petitioning company or organization
- Legal name, title, and contact information (daytime phone number and email address) of the authorized signatory
BENEFICIARY INFORMATION:
- Beneficiary’s legal name
- Beneficiary’s gender
- Does the beneficiary have a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education such that the beneficiary is eligible for the advanced degree exemption under INA 214(g)(5)(C) and requesting consideration under the advanced degree exemption?
- Beneficiary’s date of birth
- Beneficiary’s country of birth Beneficiary’s country of citizenship
- Beneficiary’s passport number
Petitioners are expected to register as many beneficiaries as possible to increase their chances of filing the most H-1Bs. As a result, the number of beneficiaries participating in the lottery is expected to be near record levels which may decrease the overall probability of lottery selection. Keep in mind that some beneficiaries may have multiple employers registering for them at the same time. And after results have been announced, different H-1B petitioners may be filling H-1B petitions for the same Beneficiary. Strategically, this may also go in company’s favor if Company A’s registration for a candidate does not get picked but a registration for same individual by Company B is picked and its H-1B petition is later approved. If this beneficiary is willing change employment, Company A may then file H-1B transfer to transfer the approved H-1B status and allow the beneficiary to work for them.