For 2020 H-1B cap cases (FY 2021), USCIS requires an online registration between March 1st through March 20th, 2020. The government has published Final Rule for the H-1B registration requirement. Here are the important applicable procedures:
(1) Electronic registration requirement: The regulations requires H-1B Petitioners to register online at www.uscis.gov before filing a cap-subject H-1B petition on behalf of a foreign national. To be eligible to file a petition for a beneficiary who may be counted against the H-1B regular cap or the H-1B advanced degree exemption for a particular fiscal year, a registration must be properly submitted in accordance with regulations and as per form instructions. A petitioner may file an H-1B cap-subject petition on behalf of a registered beneficiary only after the petitioner’s registration for that beneficiary has been selected for that fiscal year. USCIS will notify the petitioner of the selection of the petitioner’s registered beneficiaries.
(2) Limitation on beneficiaries: A petitioner must electronically submit a separate registration to file a petition for each beneficiary it seeks to register, and each beneficiary must be named. A petitioner may only submit one registration per beneficiary in any fiscal year. If a petitioner submits more than one registration per beneficiary in the same fiscal year, all registrations filed by that petitioner relating to that beneficiary for that fiscal year will be considered invalid.
(3) Initial registration period. The annual initial registration period will last a minimum of 14 calendar days and will start at least 14 calendar days before the earliest date on which H-1B cap-subject petitions may be filed for a particular fiscal year, consistent with paragraph (h)(2)(i)(I) of this section. USCIS will announce the start and end dates of the initial registration period on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov for each fiscal year. USCIS will announce the start of the initial registration period at least 30 calendar days in advance of such date.
(4) Limitation on requested start date. A petitioner may submit a registration during the initial registration period only if the requested start date for the beneficiary is the first day for the applicable fiscal year. If USCIS keeps the registration period open beyond the initial registration period, or determines that it is necessary to re-open the registration period, a petitioner may submit a registration with a requested start date after the first business day for the applicable fiscal year, as long as the date of registration is no more than 6 months before the requested start date.
(5) Regular cap selection. In determining whether there are enough registrations to meet the H-1B regular cap, USCIS will consider all properly submitted registrations relating to beneficiaries that may be counted under regular cap, including those that may also be eligible for U.S. master’s/PhD cap.
(i) Fewer registrations than needed to meet the H-1B regular cap. At the end of the annual initial registration period, if USCIS determines that it has received fewer registrations than needed to meet the H-1B regular cap, USCIS will notify all petitioners that have properly registered that their registrations have been selected. USCIS will keep the registration period open beyond the initial registration period, until it determines that it has received a sufficient number of registrations to meet the H-1B regular cap. Once USCIS has received a sufficient number of registrations to meet the H-1B regular cap, USCIS will no longer accept registrations for petitions subject to the H-1B regular cap. USCIS will monitor the number of registrations received and will notify the public of the date that USCIS has received the necessary number of registrations (the “final registration date”). The day the public is notified will not control the applicable final registration date. When necessary to ensure the fair and orderly allocation of numbers under quota, USCIS may randomly select the remaining number of registrations deemed necessary to meet the H-1B regular cap from among the registrations received on the final registration date. This random selection will be made via computer-generated selection.
(ii) Sufficient registrations to meet the H-1B regular cap during initial registration period. At the end of the initial registration period, if USCIS determines that it has received more than sufficient registrations to meet the H-1B regular cap, USCIS will no longer accept registrations under section 214(g)(1)(A) of the Act and will notify the public of the final registration date. USCIS will randomly select from among the registrations properly submitted during the initial registration period the number of registrations deemed necessary to meet the H-1B regular cap. This random selection will be made via computer-generated selection.
(6) Advanced degree exemption selection. After USCIS has determined it will no longer accept registrations under section 214(g)(1)(A) of the Act, USCIS will determine whether there is a sufficient number of remaining registrations to meet the H-1B advanced degree exemption.
(i) Fewer registrations than needed to meet the H-1B advanced degree exemption numerical limitation. If USCIS determines that it has received fewer registrations than needed to meet the H-1B advanced degree exemption numerical limitation, USCIS will notify all petitioners that have properly registered that their registrations have been selected. USCIS will continue to accept registrations to file petitions that may be eligible for the H-1B advanced degree exemption under section 214(g)(5)(C) of the Act until USCIS determines that it has received enough registrations to meet the H-1B advanced degree exemption numerical limitation. USCIS will monitor the number of registrations received and will notify the public of the date that USCIS has received the necessary number of registrations (the “final registration date”). The day the public is notified will not control the applicable final registration date. When necessary to ensure the fair and orderly allocation of numbers under Section 214(g)(1)(A) of the Act, USCIS may randomly select the remaining number of registrations deemed necessary to meet the H-1B advanced degree exemption numerical limitation from among the registrations properly submitted on the final registration date. This random selection will be made via computer-generated selection.
(ii) Sufficient registrations to meet the H-1B advanced degree exemption numerical limitation. If USCIS determines that it has received more than enough registrations to meet the H-1B advanced degree exemption numerical limitation, USCIS will no longer accept registrations that may be eligible for exemption under section 214(g)(5)(C) of the Act and will notify the public of the final registration date. USCIS will randomly select the number of registrations needed to meet the H-1B advanced degree exemption numerical limitation from among the remaining registrations that may be counted against the advanced degree exemption numerical limitation. This random selection will be made via computer-generated selection.
(7) Increase to the number of registrations projected to meet the H-1B regular cap or advanced degree exemption allocations in a fiscal year. Unselected registrations will remain on reserve for the applicable fiscal year. If USCIS determines that it needs to increase the number of registrations projected to meet the H-1B regular cap or advanced degree exemption allocation, and select additional registrations, USCIS will select from among the registrations that are on reserve a sufficient number to meet the H-1B regular cap or advanced degree exemption numerical limitation, as applicable. If all of the registrations on reserve are selected and there are still fewer registrations than needed to meet the H-1B regular cap or advanced degree exemption numerical limitation, as applicable, USCIS may reopen the applicable registration period until USCIS determines that it has received a sufficient number of registrations projected as needed to meet the H-1B regular cap or advanced degree exemption numerical limitation. USCIS will monitor the number of registrations received and will notify the public of the date that USCIS has received the necessary number of registrations (the new “final registration date”). The day the public is notified will not control the applicable final registration date. When necessary to ensure the fair and orderly allocation of numbers, USCIS may randomly select the remaining number of registrations deemed necessary to meet the H-1B regular cap or advanced degree exemption numerical limitation from among the registrations properly submitted on the final registration date. If the registration period will be re-opened, USCIS will announce the start of the re-opened registration period on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov.
(B) Confirmation. Petitioners will receive electronic notification that USCIS has accepted a registration for processing.
(C) Notification to file H-1B cap-subject petitions. USCIS will notify all petitioners with selected registrations that the petitioner is eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition on behalf of the beneficiary named in the notice within the filing period indicated on the notice.
(D) H-1B cap-subject petition filing following registration
(1) Filing procedures. In addition to any other applicable requirements, a petitioner may file an H-1B petition for a beneficiary that may be counted under Regular Cap or U.S. masters’ or PhD cap only if the petitioner’s registration to file a petition on behalf of the beneficiary named in the petition was selected beforehand by USCIS and only within the filing period indicated on the notice. A petitioner may not substitute the beneficiary named in the original registration or transfer the registration to another petitioner. If a petitioner files an H-1B cap-subject petition based on a registration that was not selected beforehand by USCIS, or based on a registration for a different beneficiary than the beneficiary named in the petition, the H-1B cap-subject petition will be denied or rejected.
(2) Filing period. An H-1B cap-subject petition must be properly filed within the filing period indicated on the relevant selection notice. The filing period for filing the H-1B cap-subject petition will be at least 90 days. If petitioners do not meet these requirements, USCIS will deny or reject the H-1B cap-subject petition.
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