Different from previous years, electronic registration (“E-Registration”) process will be adopted in H-1B cap season this year. Employers or representing attorneys will need to register electronically from March 1 to March 20; in order to commence the E-Registration, the Employer needs to register an H-1B Registrant account on the myUSCIS. USCIS will hold a lottery and announce the result by March 31. Those who receives selection notice from USCIS can submit H-1B petition within the validity period specified in the notice. Federal Regulations stipulate that the filing window for H-1B petition should be no less than 90 days, however, petitioners should take beneficiaries’ F-1 and /or OPT status expiration date into consideration when determining the deadline for submitting H-1B petitions.

Some Important Dates

Monday, February 24th at 7AM PT (10AM ET):

USCIS opens myUSCIS account registration for employers. Type of account that needs to be registered is H-1B Registrant account. If the employer has previously registered a Petitioner account, it needs to register an H-1B Registrant account using a different email address. Only one H-1B Registrant is needed, even if the employer has multiple beneficiaries or attorneys.

Sunday, March 1st at 9 AM PT (12 PM ET):

USCIS opens H-1B electronic registration.

Friday, March 20th at 9 AM PT (12 PM ET):

USCIS closes H-1B electronic registration. However, if the electronic registration system crashes and the registration ends in advance, USCIS would administrate traditional paper filing lottery.

Tuesday, March 31:

USCIS completes the electronic registration lottery and notifies employers or attorneys through myUSCIS account, with selection notice filed in the myUSCIS account.

Wednesday, April 1st:

The earliest date for H1B petition filing. Details for H-1B filing window and processing center will be specified in the selection notice. The processing center on the notice may not be the processing center corresponding to the employer.

Tuesday, June 30:

Theoretically, June 30 is the last day for H-1B filing with filing window open on April 1 because the H1B filing window should be no less than 90 days. The deadline for submitting H-1B petitions will be specified in notice of selection. For students who intend to use Cap-Gap extension, the filing deadline should be determined by F-1 status expiration date or the expiration date of the EAD card for OPT or STEM OPT Extension.

The deadline in the previous paragraph refers to the date for USCIS to receive the H-1B petition.

Wednesday, September 30:

The last day of F-1 status extension using Cap-Gap. If the H-1B petition is still under review at this time, the beneficiary will enter a 60-day grace period from the next day; if Cap-Gap extension includes a work authorization extension, the beneficiary will need to stop working from the next day.

Thursday, October 1st:

H-1B will come into effect in FY2021. For approved H-1B beneficiaries who requested Change of Status (“COS”) and continue to work for the petitioner from this day on, H-1B status is automatically activated.

Monday, November 30:

The last day of the 60-day grace period for whom has used Cap-Gap to extend F-1 status. If the H-1B petition is still under review at this time, the beneficiary will enter authorized stay from the next day and must stop working during the waiting period. If the H-1B application is finally approved with change of status request, the employee can starting working for the petitioner on the day of approval; if the H-1B petition is denied, days of unlawful presence start to accumulate from next day after denial.

Tasks of employers and representing attorneys at these points will be explained in detail below.

Employer Signs up for myUSCIS H-1B Registrant Account

Regardless of whether the employer is represented by an attorney in submitting the electronic registration for the H-1B beneficiary, the employer needs to register an H-1B Registrant account in myUSCIS system. USCIS will open the H-1B Registrant account registration at 7 am PT (10 am ET) on Monday, February 24. If the employer has previously registered a Petitioner account, it needs to register for a H-1B Registrant account using a different email address. If the employer intends to apply for H-1B for multiple H-1B beneficiaries or with different attorneys, only one H-1B Registrant account is required. The procedure for an employer to register an H-1B Registrant account in myUSCIS system is as follows[i]:

1. Go to USCIS official website (uscis.gov), point to the ‘Tools’ tab, and click on myUSCIS

2. Open myUSCIS website and click ‘Sign up’

3. Set login email and password

4. Set up two-step verification method (2FA). Options including email, text message, or authentication app.

5. Set password reset questions and answers

6. Select Account Type – H-1B Registrant

H-1B Registrant is an account type that will only be available for sign-up from Monday, February 24^th, 7am PT. H-1B employers should complete the registration with myUSCIS from Monday, February 24 to Sunday, March 1. To participate in the H-1B lottery this year, employers need to register for an H-1B Registrant account and complete the electronic registration at the latest on Thursday, March 19 or Friday, March 20.

If myUSCIS account password is entered incorrectly for three times, the account will be frozen for 20 minutes, therefore employers need to pay attention to keep the account information well. In addition, myUSCIS account uses two-step verification (2FA), meaning when using myUSCIS account, you need to go to the registered mailbox or text message inbox to obtain the verification code.

Information required by H-1B electronic registration

Information to be prepared before submitting the electronic registration:

(1) Employer’s name,  doing business as (DBA), EIN, and mailing address;

(2) Name, title, phone, and email of the authorized signatory of the employer;

(3) Name, birthday, country of birth, country of nationality, and passport number of the H-1B beneficiary.

(4) Whether the H-1B beneficiary has obtained a master’s degree or higher in a U.S. university; and

(5) Credit card, debit card, or checking account or savings account ACH information for H-1B electronic registration fee.

For US Master’s cap registration, it is NOT necessary for the beneficiary to obtain the advanced degree at the time of submitting the electronic registration, instead, the degree must be obtained at the time of H-1B petition filing. The same applies to bachelor’s degree for regular cap.

It is not necessary to get information such as job positions or salary levels ready before petition filing, but it is better to have it determined before or at the time of electronic registration.

The rules for multiple employers applying for multiple H-1Bs for the same beneficiary in the same fiscal year are the same as before: as long as multiple employers have reasonable business needs, they can submit multiple electronic registrations for the same beneficiary.

H-1B electronic registration process[ii]

H-1B electronic registration can be performed by attorney or by the employer. Details are as follows:

H-1B electronic registration performed by attorney[iii]

After the representing attorney completes the electronic registration and G-28 form in his or her myUSCIS account, the system will generate a password for the employer to conduct an electronic handshake; the attorney needs to send the password to the employer. The password is valid for 30 days. Employers should complete the electronic handshake with the password on their H-1B Registrant account in myUSCIS system as follows:

1. Login to employer’s H-1B Registrant account and click “Enter representative passcode”

2. Enter the password received from attorney

3. Review Form G-28, sign and submit

4. Review H-1B electronic registration

5. Accept or decline H-1B electronic registration

If the H-1B electronic registration is declined, it will be sent back to the attorney for editing.

6. Sign H-1B electronic registration, sent it back to attorney

After the employer completes the above steps, the electronic registration will be sent back to the attorney to pay electronic registration fee and submit the H-1B electronic registration. Employers can use myUSICS system to save H-1B electronic registrations as CSV files for inspection or archiving. The operation is as follows,

7. Save H-1B electronic registration as a CSV file

Above is the procedure for the attorney to submit the H-1B electronic registration on behalf of the employer. You can see that the employer only needs to review and sign G-28 form and the electronic registration(s). Filling the forms and payments are done by the attorney.

The following explains the procedure for employer to submit electronic registration on its own.

H-1B electronic registration performed by employer[iv]

1. Start H-1B electronic registration

2. Enter employer information

3. Enter signatory information

4. Enter H-1B beneficiary information

One batch of electronic registration can at most contain 250 beneficiaries.

5. Review H-1B electronic registration

6. Sign H-1B electronic registration

7. Pay H-1B electronic registration fee

Payment is made via pay.gov by U.S. Treasury. No additional account is needed.

8. Submit H-1B electronic registration

9. Save H-1B electronic registration as a CSV file

Lottery or Lotteries

After submission, the H-1B electronic registration will possibly have the following four status: Submitted, Selected, Denied (duplicated), or Not selected.

Explained respectively as follows:

Submitted:

After submission, the H-1B electronic registration will automatically change from Draft to Submitted, each H-1B beneficiary will have a tracking number.

Selected:

From March 20th to March 31st, USCIS will hold lottery, selecting Regular Cap first, then U.S. Master Cap. If the beneficiary’s H-1B electronic registration is selected, USCIS will change the status of the beneficiary to ‘Selected’ in myUSCIS system and notify the attorney or employer’s signatory by SMS and/or email.

Denied (duplicated):

If the same employer submits two or more electronic registrations for one beneficiary, the beneficiary’s electronic registration becomes Denied (duplicated).

There is no appeal process for Denied (duplicated).

Not selected:

Electronic registrations that have not yet been selected will remain in ‘Submitted’ status until the end of the financial year (one and a half year later), after that, if still not selected, the status will become “Not selected”.

If too many H-1B petitions were not filed after selection in lottery or H1B petitions were denied, USCIS may hold lottery again among unselected electronic registration, or even re-open the electronic registration. In previous years, USCIS selects more to ensure that the H-1B cap can be fully met. This year, the number of over-selected by USCIS might be less than the number of selected registrations who do not file the petition plus the number of the petitions denied after H1B filing. This may cause USCIS to run lottery again. However, the probability of re-open the electronic registration for lottery is low. At present, immigration attorneys unanimously believe that the number of registrations will rise dramatically due to reduced requirements and costs for participating in the H-1B lottery; it is speculated that USCIS might receive about 400,000 electronic registrations.[v]

The selection rate depends on the number of electronic registrations received by USCIS. If USCIS receives around 400,000 electronic registrations, the selection rate will drop by half. Such a large number of electronic registrations will also bring up another serious question, what if myUSCIS system crashes?

What if myUSCIS system crashes?

White House Office of Budget and Management tested the electronic registration system in 2019, with more than 190,000 people tested the system.[vi]

In 2019, with number of H-1B petitions expected to decline, USCIS yet received 211,011 fully prepared paper petitions. The number of registrations will increase significantly this year because of the reduced costs to participate in lottery. The number may turn out to be much higher than 200,000. Therefore, there will be a significant risk: what if the electronic registration system collapsed a few days after the opening of the electronic registration? This may cause USCIS to abandon the electronic registration and in turn use paper filing. If this happens, USCIS will announce hosting a traditional lottery in the first week of April to receive complete paper filing petitions. Therefore, everyone must be prepared to make sure that H-1B petitions can be submitted immediately in early April. In addition to mitigate the risk of myUSCIS system breakdown, such preparation can also reduce waiting time and secure Cap-Gap extension benefits.

Submit petition following instructions in the selection notice

If the electronic registration system does not crash, USCIS will continue to use the electronic registration system to run lottery. The conditions and requirements of the H-1B petition are the same as before, employers need to apply for a Labor Condition Application (LCA) before submitting an I-129 Form. The only difference is that the Selection Notice will specify the 90-day window for filing the H-1B petition and the Processing Center where the case will be processed. When submitting an H-1B petition, the selection notice needs to be placed on the top of the petition.

Affected by the public charge rule, which will come into effect on February 24, employers with selected registrations need to file the January 22, 2020 version of I-129 Form, with questions of whether the beneficiary received or certified to receive public welfare added on page 6 and 7.

Government filing fees are the same as in the previous years, which consist of the following:

• Basic filing fee: $460;

• Fraud prevention fee: $500 for first-time petition or change of employer (H-1B Transfer);

• Labor Training Fee (ACWIA): $ 750 or $1,500. $750 for employers (including subsidiaries and affiliates) with 25 or less full-time equivalent employees in the United States; $1,500 for those with 26 or more full-time equivalent employees in the United States; as well as

• Fees under Public Law 114-113: $4,000 for employers with more than 50 employees in the United States, of whom 50% are in H-1B or L-1 status, and it is a first-time petition or a change of employer petition; and also

• Optional premium processing fee: $ 1,440 for premium processing. We have not yet heard from USCIS whether the premium process service is open this year.

USCIS is considering raising the basic filing fee to $560, but this has not yet taken effect. We will closely monitor the changes in the above-mentioned filing fees.

Cap-Gap Extension For Change of Status from F1 to H-1B

Solely submitting electronic registration won’t make the beneficiary eligible for cap-gap extension. Instead, filing H1B petition with Change of Status request within F1 status validity period is required in order to be eligible for Cap-Gap extension.

Further, considering that most of the beneficiaries need to continue working for the employer while waiting for the H-1B result, such H1B petitions need to be filed within the validity period of the beneficiary’s EAD card for OPT or STEM OPT Extension to take advantage of the Cap Gap extension.

What may possibly happen is that the expiration date of the EAD card for OPT or STEM OPT Extension is earlier than the filing deadline specified in the H-1B electronic registration selection notice. USCIS will begin accepting H-1B filings on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. With 90 days filing window, theoretically speaking, the due date for H1B case filing is Tuesday, June 30, 2020.

Therefore, beneficiaries need to make sure with their employer/attorney to setup a deadline for submitting the H-1B petition which can secure cap-gap extension benefit according to their specific status expiration date!

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[i] https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/Overview_of_the_H-1B_Electronic_Registration_Process_A_Webinar_for_Registrants.pdf

https://www.uscis.gov/file-online/uscis-online-account-setup

[ii] uscis.gov/h-1b

[iii] https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/Overview_of_the_H-1B_Electronic_Registration_Process_-_A_Webinar_for_Registrants.pdf

[iv] https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/nativedocuments/Overview_of_the_H-1B_Electronic_Registration_Process_-_A_Webinar_for_Registrants.pdf

[v] Speculation from Feb 6. AILA H1B Seminar

[vi] http://dwz.date/ntS