U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will allow H-1B petitioners and registrants to create new myUSCIS online accounts beginning Tuesday, March 2, at noon Eastern Time.

The timeline of key dates in the H-1B registration process is as follows:

  • March 2. Petitioners and registrants can create new H-1B registrant accounts beginning at noon ET. Those with an active H-1B registration account do not need to create a new account.
  • March 9. The H-1B registration period opens at noon Eastern.
  • March 25. The H-1B registration period closes at noon Eastern.
  • March 31.  USCIS intends to send selection notifications via users’ myUSCIS accounts by this date.
  • April 1. Selected registrants can begin filing H-1B cap-subject petitions.

Background: USCIS announced the time line for the H-1B electronic registration period earlier this month. During the registration period, petitioners for cap-subject H-1B visas must submit an electronic registration for each prospective H-1B candidate. Petitioners or their representative must submit registrations via a myUSCIS online account and pay a $10 government filing fee for each registration. Registrations may not be submitted after the March 25 deadline. Following the registration period, USCIS will conduct a random lottery on properly submitted registrations if there are more registrations than visas available. Those who are selected are invited to submit an H-1B cap-subject petition.

BAL Analysis: Employers who do not already have an active H-1B registrant account are encouraged to create one as soon as possible on or after March 2 to ensure that any technical issues can be addressed before registration opens on March 9. Those with existing accounts are encouraged to log in before the registration period to ensure they have continued access.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice group. For additional information, please contact berryapplemanleiden@bal.com.

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