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Frequently asked questions about H-1B CAP REGISTRATION
What is H-1B cap registration?
Back in January 2019, USCIS announced that it was planning to create a new pre-filing registration process for the H-1B cap, significantly changing the way the H-1B cap application process is conducted. USCIS suspended implementation of the new registration process in 2019, but USCIS did implement the new H-1B cap registration process for the first time in 2020.
USCIS recently confirmed the details for the FY 2025 H-1B cap registration period, which will be open from March 6, 2024 to March 22, 2024.
2. How will the new H-1B cap registration process work?
In past years, employers were required to submit fully-completed H-1B petitions on April 1 and USCIS was required to accept H-1B petition filings for at least a five-day period. For the past several years, USCIS received significantly more than 85,000 H-1B petitions during the five-day H-1B cap (last year over 190,000 H-1B cap petitions were filed), so it would conduct a random selection process (also known as the H-1B Cap Lottery) to determine which H-1B petitions would be processed for the available 85,000 available H-1B cap slots.
Under the new H-1B registration process, employers are now required to submit a registration via an online USCIS portal for each employee they desire to be entered into the H-1B lottery selection process, before any H-1B petition is filed with USCIS. There is a $10 non-refundable registration fee for each employee and there is a limited window of time in during which registrations can be submitted. Once the registration window is closed, USCIS will randomly select 85,000 registrants from the pool of all registrations received and then notify the registering employers that they can proceed with filing an H-1B petition for the selected employee.
3. When can H-1B cap registrations be submitted and how do you register?
USCIS has confirmed that the registration period for this year’s FY 2025 H-1B Cap will be March 6 - March 22, 2024. Although the registration regulations authorize USCIS to extend the registration period if necessary if there are technical issues with the registration system, or if it does not receive enough registrations initially to meet the annual quotas (which is not likely), employers should plan for the registration period to end on March 22, 2024. All registrations will be required to be submitted using the USCIS online portal.
4. What information must employers provide as part of the H-1B cap registration process?
USCIS requires the following information to register an employee for the H-1B cap lottery:
Employer Information
Legal name of the petitioning company
The Doing Business As (DBA) names of the petitioning company, if applicable
Employer identification number (EIN) of the petitioning company
Primary U.S. office address of the petitioning company
Legal name, title, and contact information (daytime phone number and email address) of the authorized signatory
Employee Information
Employee’s full legal name
Employee’s gender
Does the employee have a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education? (to confirm if they are eligible for the Master’s Cap)
Employee’s date of birth
Employee’s country of birth
Employee’s country of citizenship
Employee’s passport number
5. Can attorneys submit H-1B cap registration on behalf of their employer clients?
Yes, attorneys can submit H-1B registrations, and pay the H-1B registration fees, for employer clients, as long as a G-28 Attorney Representative Form is provided to USCIS.
6. What attestations are employers required to make when submitting an H-1B cap registration?
The employer’s authorized signatory will be required to certify that all of the information contained in the registration is accurate and that the employer intends to file an H-1B petition on behalf of the employee named in the registration if they are selected.
7. Is there a limit on how many registrations an employer can submit?
No. There is no specific numerical limit on how may employees an employer can register for the H-1B cap. Keep in mind however, that employers should only register employees for whom they have an actual job opportunity, since they are attesting that they intend to file an H-1B petition for the employee if selected. USCIS has suggested that employers who register employees, but then do not ultimately file H-1B cap applications for those employees if selected, may be investigated to determine if their actions demonstrate a pattern and practice of potential abuse of the registration system, in which case they could be subject to monetary fines or criminal penalties for making false statements and misrepresentations to the government.
8. Can an employer submit more than one registration for an individual employee?
No. Employers can only submit one registration for a particular employee. USCIS has indicated that if an employer submits multiple registrations for the same employee, all registrations for that employee will be rejected.
9. When will the selection process be conducted?
USCIS has indicated that they will conduct the random selection process to determine which 85,000 registrants can proceed with an H-1B cap petition immediately after the registration period closes, and that it intends to notify employers which of their employees have been selected no later than March 31, 2024. USCIS will notify employers by sending electronic selection notices that confirm that the employer may file an H-1B cap-subject petition on behalf of the foreign national employee named in the notice.
10. If an employee’s registration is selected, when does the employer file the H-1B cap petition?
The regulations require USCIS to establish a period of at least 90 days in which employers must file H-1B cap petitions for selected in the registration process. USCIS is expected to announce the exact filing period dates in the coming weeks, but it is anticipated that the petition filing period will begin on April 1, 2024.
11. If an employee’s registration is selected, can the employee pay the H-1B application filing fees and attorney fees?
No. If an employee’s registration is selected, the employer is required by law to pay all H-1B application fees.
12. Can H-1B cap applications be filed using Premium Processing?
Not sure yet. USCIS has not yet announced whether premium processing will be available for H-1B cap petitions. Typically, USCIS does not make a decision as to the availability of premium processing until shortly before the cap filing season.
13. Is the new H-1B cap registration process a good thing for employers?
Yes. Under the new H-1B cap registration program, employers now submit fully-prepared H-1B petitions only for those employees whose registrations have been selected. Compared to the old system, where employers had to submit fully-prepared H-1B petitions for all employees it was seeking to enter into the H-1B cap lottery even though only 30-40% would be selected for processing, the new registration system will save employers time (by allowing them to focus on collecting full documentation only for selected employees) and money (they will only have to pay attorney fees for H-1B petitions filed for selected employees). So from that perspective, the new H-1B cap registration process is beneficial for employers, and it also saves government resources, which hopefully leads to more streamlined application processing.
However, because the financial barrier to submitting an H-1B cap registration is low (only $10 per registration), it’s possible that the total number of registrations submitted for potential H-1B employees will be higher, which means an employer’s chances of having their employees selected for an H-1B cap number may be lower than in past years. That said, this did not seem to be a concern in the first year of the registration program.
14. If you are an individual without a relationship with a US employer, can Ellis Porter help match you with an employer?
No. Our H-1B Cap registration service does not include helping individuals find jobs with US sponsoring employers. We are only able to work with US employers who have identified an employee who they want to register for the H-1B cap.