The following text was published by USCIS on March 1st, 2023 as part of instructions for the H-1B FY 2024 (employment starting October 1st, 2023) via lottery. Our law office comments are provided in brackets [ ] .

H-1B Registration

A U.S. employer or agent (prospective petitioner) who seeks to obtain H-1B nonimmigrant classification on behalf of an individual subject to the H-1B numerical allocations will need to submit a registration during a designated registration period, unless the registration requirement is suspended by USCIS.

Prospective petitioners, or their attorneys or accredited representatives, may submit up to 250 registrations per submission.

The annual initial registration period will last a minimum of 14 calendar days and will start at least 14 calendar days before the earliest date on which H-1B cap-subject petitions may be filed for a particular fiscal year.

[The registration period starts March 1st, 2023 for the FYI 2024 lottery]

If a sufficient number of registrations projected as needed to reach the H-1B regular cap have not been received within the initial registration period, USCIS will notify all registrants who have properly registered that their registrations have been selected. USCIS will keep registration open past the initial registration period until USCIS has determined that it has received enough registrations projected as needed to meet the H-1B regular cap.

After the end of the initial registration period, if USCIS has received more registrations than needed to meet the projected number of registrations to reach the regular cap, [USCIS] will randomly select a sufficient number of registrations.  A similar process will apply for those who may be eligible for the advanced degree exemption. A Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, may then be filed by the petitioner based on a selected registration to request classification of the beneficiary as an H-1B worker.

Before You Start Your Registration

H-1B Registration Eligibility

A U.S. employer or agent may file H-1B cap petitions, and as such, will be required to submit an H-1B registration to be eligible to file the H-1B cap petition.

U.S. Employers: Person or entity in the United States that:

• Engages a person to work in the United States;
• Has an employer-employee relationship with the beneficiary; and
• Has an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax identification number.

Agents: A U.S. individual or company in business as an agent may file an H-1B Registration for workers who are traditionally self-employed or workers who use agents to arrange short-term employment on their behalf with numerous employers, and in cases where a foreign employer authorizes the agent to act on its behalf.

Duplicates [Not Allowed in H-1B Registration!]

A registrant (prospective petitioner) may only submit one registration per beneficiary in any fiscal year. If a registrant, or their authorized attorney or representative, submits more than one registration per beneficiary in the same fiscal year, all registrations filed by that registrant, or on their behalf by their authorized attorney or representative, related to the beneficiary for the fiscal year will be considered invalid.

Fee [$10 per registration]

Fee: $10 per registration

[USCIS] will send you to Pay.gov, our safe, secure payment website, to make your payment and submit your registration(s) online.

Important Payment Requirements:
When paying with check please be sure to enter the bank routing number and bank account number accurately. While the status of the registration(s) in the system will indicate “submitted’ following completion of the Pay.gov payment process, your H-1B registration(s) will be invalidated if the payment does not clear.

If payment is completed with a credit card or debit card the status of the registration(s) in the system will indicate “submitted’ following completion of the Pay.gov payment process. However, your H-1B registration(s) will be invalidated if the payment does not clear or the payment is later declined or disputed.

Money orders, certified bank checks, and non-reloadable debit cards cannot be used as a form of payment in the Pay.gov system.

If you use a business checking account to make your payment please ensure that your institution does not restrict or block ACH Payments for this service. If your business checking account is restricted your payment will declined and your registration(s) will be invalidated.

USCIS Refund Policy

USCIS does not refund fees, regardless of any action [USCIS] take on your submission, application, petition, or request, or how long USCIS takes to reach a decision.

By continuing this transaction, you acknowledge that you must submit fees in the exact amount and that you are paying the fees for a government service.

Please refer to the instructions for the form(s) you are filing for additional information or you may call the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283. For TTY (deaf or hard of hearing) 800-767-1833.

Completing Your Registration Online

[USCIS] will automatically save your responses

[USCIS] will automatically save your information when you select “next” to go to a new page or navigate to another section of the registration system. [USCIS] will save your draft information until the initial registration period closes.

How to continue filling out your registration

After you start your registration(s), you can exit and sign in to your account again to continue where you left off.\

[Application deleted after 30 days]

If you do not work on your application for more than 30 days, [USCIS] will delete your data in order to prevent storing personal information indefinitely.