The registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 6, 2024, and run through noon Eastern on March 22, 2024.
- If enough unique beneficiaries are registered by March 22, as projected to reach the H-1B numerical allocations, USCIS will randomly select from among those unique beneficiaries and send selection notifications via users’ USCIS online accounts to the prospective petitioners who properly submitted registrations for those selected beneficiaries.
- If enough unique beneficiaries are not registered, all of the properly registered beneficiaries will be selected.
- USCIS intends to notify account holders and upload selection notifications to their accounts by March 31.
Erickson Immigration Group, in concert with our government affairs team and resources on Capitol Hill, will continue to monitor developments and share updates as more news is available. Please contact your employer or EIG attorney if you have questions about anything we’re reporting above or case-specific questions.
Registration and Selection Process – Updated for FY 2025
As outlined in the final rule, “Improving the H-1B Registration Selection Process and Program Integrity,” USCIS has modified the selection process for H-1B registrations and added additional integrity measures.
The final rule’s most significant change is that USCIS will select registrations by unique beneficiary instead of by registration.
- Each unique beneficiary will be entered into the selection process once, regardless of how many registrations are submitted on their behalf.
- If a beneficiary is selected, each employer registrant will be notified of the beneficiary’s selection and eligible to file a petition on that beneficiary’s behalf during the applicable petition filing period.
- USCIS will adjudicate each selected registration, even when filed by multiple employers on behalf of the same beneficiary.
Why it matters: This updated process creates a level playing field where an individual with a single job offer and an individual with multiple job offers have an equal opportunity to be selected.
Required Documentation
As previously announced, USCIS will require registrants to provide valid passport information or valid travel document information for each beneficiary.
- Valid passport or travel document: Under the final rule, a valid passport or travel document is required at the registration stage. A passport or travel document that has expired and has not been extended is not considered valid. The passport or travel document listed in the registration must correspond to the passport or travel document the beneficiary intends to use to enter the United States if or when the beneficiary is abroad. Each beneficiary must be registered under only one passport or travel document.
- Documents that are facially expired but automatically extended: In rare instances, such as for nationals of Venezuela, the passport or travel document may be past the expiration date listed on the document (i.e., facially expired) but may have had its validity extended by decree or automatically by the national government or issuing authority that issued the passport or travel document. In these unusual circumstances, USCIS would consider those documents to be valid since they were extended by decree or automatically. Registrants should enter the expiration date of the passport or travel document based on the extension rather than the date in the passport itself.
- The passport or travel document must be valid at the time of registration. If the passport or travel document expires between when a registration is submitted and when the H-1B petition is filed, the petitioner should enter data from the new, currently valid passport or travel document on Page 3, Part 3 of Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker. In support of the H-1B petition, the petitioner should provide documentation for both passports or travel documents to establish that the passport or travel document was valid at the time of registration and an explanation as to why there was a change in identifying information.
Online Filing & Organizational Accounts – New for FY 2025
On February 28, 2024, USCIS launched the previously announced new organizational accounts in the USCIS online account, allowing multiple people within an organization and their legal representatives to collaborate on and prepare H-1B registrations, H-1B petitions, and any associated Form I-907.
- Registrants were able to create new accounts beginning at noon Eastern on February 28, 2024.
- Those with an existing registrant account can easily upgrade to an organizational account instead of creating a new one.
- Representatives may add clients to their accounts at any time, but both representatives and registrants must wait until March 6 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $10 fee.
Other Upcoming Changes
With the new fee rule that goes into effect on April 1, 2024, petitioners must use the new 04/01/24 editions of the following forms:
- Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker;
- Form I-129 CW, Petition for a CNMI-Only Nonimmigrant Transitional Worker;
- Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers;
- Form I-600, Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative; and
- Form I-600A, Application for Advance Processing of an Orphan Petition, and the form’s supplements.
Beginning April 1, 2024, applicants and petitioners must submit the 04/01/24 edition of these forms with the appropriate fee listed on the USCIS Fee Schedule G-1055. USCIS will reject prior versions of the above forms.
The fee increases go into effect after the initial FY 2025 H-1B cap registration period. Therefore, the registration fee during the registration period starting in March 2024 will remain $10.