United States | Reminder H-1B registration opens today

Registration for H-1B cap petitions for fiscal year 2025 opened today.

Key Points:

• H-1B registration opened at noon EST on March 6 and will run through noon EDT on March 22.
• During this time, petitioners for H-1B beneficiaries can use their U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services online accounts to register electronically.
• Under this year’s procedures, USCIS will require registrants to provide valid passport or travel document information for each beneficiary. The passport or travel document provided must be the one the beneficiary, if or when abroad, intends to use to enter the United States if issued an H-1B visa. Each beneficiary must be registered under only one passport or travel document. The same passport or travel document number must be used on the I-129 petition that gets filed on behalf of the beneficiary if he or she is selected in the lottery. More information is available here.
• The agency launched new myUSCIS online organizational accounts last week, allowing multiple people within organizations and their legal representatives to prepare H-1B registrations. Petitioners with existing online accounts have automatic access to the new enhancements. A USCIS organizational accounts FAQ is available here. BAL urges employers to work closely with BAL before accessing their accounts.

Additional Information: Following the registration period, USCIS will conduct a lottery to determine which registrations will be eligible for H-1B petition filing beginning April 1. Under a recently published regulation, the agency will switch to a beneficiary-centric lottery this year, meaning each beneficiary can be selected only once, regardless of how many registrations were submitted on his or her behalf. BAL urges employers to work closely with their BAL team as they prepare for H-1B cap registration and throughout cap season.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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