USCIS Announces Registration Period for FY 2023 H-1B Cap Season
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2023 H-1B cap season lottery will open at 12 pm EST on March 1, 2022, and will run through noon on March 18, 2022.
Because the demand for H-1B visas typically exceeds the number of H-1B visas available for a given year under the quota, USCIS conducts an annual lottery in order to determine which petitions will be selected for full adjudication to receive an H-1B visa.
This year, USCIS will be using the same electronic registration process that it implemented two cycles ago. We note that this electronic registration system is currently the subject of a lawsuit, in which the plaintiffs allege that it is prone to fraud and is able to be manipulated by large IT consultancy operations.
Prospective petitioners will be able to create new accounts on myUSCIS starting on February 21, 2022. During the registration period, attorneys and employers will submit an electronic registration for all employees that they seek to sponsor for the upcoming fiscal year through their myUSCIS online account. The registration fee is $10. To register, basic company and biographic information about the beneficiary is entered into the system, which will generate a unique confirmation number. At the close of the registration period, USCIS will conduct the random lottery selection process. The government states that it intends to notify selected registrants by March 31st, but historically, the notifications have bled over into April. Selected registrants will have 90 days from the date of notification by which to submit the complete H-1B petition to USCIS for processing.
As always, the earliest effective date for a FY 2023 H-1B petition to activate is October 1, 2022. Please work with your Obermayer immigration attorney as soon as possible to ensure a seamless H-1B Cap season.
The information contained in this publication should not be construed as legal advice, is not a substitute for legal counsel, and should not be relied on as such. For legal advice or answers to specific questions, please contact one of our attorneys.