H-1B Cap Registration Lottery to be Postponed Until Next Year

The Department of Homeland Security has announced in an advanced copy of the new H-1B regulation that the cap registration system will be postponed until the next filing period in 2020. When implemented, employers have to register for the lottery first. In order to register, employers will file a short online form that provides basic information about the company, the job offer, and the prospective foreign employee. A separate form will have to be filed for each individual foreign employee. The registration period will likely occur before the usual April 1 opening day of cap filing. More information about the registration system will be provided closer to the implementation. For the filing period in April 2019, procedures for filing will remain the same.

The change that will be implemented in the April 2019 filing period is the order of the cap lotteries. Now, USCIS will first select H-1B petitions submitted on behalf of all beneficiaries, including those that may be eligible for the advanced degree exemption. USCIS will then select from the remaining eligible petitions, a number projected to reach the advanced degree exemption. Changing the order in which USCIS counts these allocations will likely increase the number of petitions for beneficiaries with a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education to be selected under the H-1B numerical allocations. To learn more about the proposed changes, please click here. For information about the current H-1B cap procedure, please click here. To learn more about the H-1B visa and your eligibility, please click here.