News Alert: Fiscal Year 2024 H-1B Cap Dates Announced

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on January 27, 2023, that the initial registration period for the H-1B cap for the fiscal year 2024 will open from March 1 and will close the curtain for acceptance on March 17, 2023. This period will allow prospective petitioners and representatives to complete and submit applications using the H-1B online application system.

That is, all employers may submit an H1B registration on behalf of the company for an employee/prospective employee they intend to sponsor an H1B Visa. For each registration submitted for the FY 2024 H-1B cap, a unique confirmation number will be assigned to the applicant which is mainly to keep track of registrations internally and to run the lottery or keep them wait-listed. 

Take note that this number cannot be used otherwise to track your case status. H1B sponsors/employers or their representatives must use the online H1B registration system, which requires creating a registrant account to submit H1B registrations for applicants who plan to sponsor an H1B visa.

Employers can create H1B enrollee accounts starting February 21, 2023, at noon EST. Creating a registrant account does not equate to submission online, and you cannot submit your H1B registration nor make payment for the registration fee until March 1, 2023. From this date, you can complete all H1B registration details or submit multiple registrations at once.

Prospective petitioners or their representatives may apply for the registration of multiple beneficiaries in one online session. Your account will allow you to prepare, edit and store draft registrations until the final payment and submission of each registration.

The H1B registration fee has not changed this fiscal year and still remains at $10 per H1B registration. Following the acceptance of bulk registrations and payments, USCIS said it worked with the US Department of the Treasury and is authorized to now allow daily credit card limits up to $39,999.99 per day.

This increase is a response to the volume of H1B previous registrations that exceeded the daily credit card limit, which used to be $24,999.99. Also, USCIS has stated that it will conduct a random selection process, commonly referred to as the H1B visa lottery, to select H1B eligible applicants if it receives enough registrations to meet the H1B (regular and master’s) visa restrictions by March 17, 2023.

However, if fewer than the H1B limit is received, they will select all properly submitted H1B registrations. All account holders will be notified by March 31. For more inquiries or questions, consult with any of our expert immigration attorneys for FREE!