A8. Yes, they may. How do I reset the password for my USCIS account or get technical support? If you create a new Form G-28, the system will generate a new passcode for the new Form G-28. To that end, USCIS also provides a tool to download a .csv file and search for duplicate entries. We prefer that you submit a separate check for each fee. On the right-hand side, when searching through the database, you can select cap-exempt. You can also filter industry code (NAICS), work city, visa rank, and job titles. All of the information contained in the registration submission is complete, true, and correct; the registration(s) reflect a legitimate job offer; and. A7. What happens if a legal representative submits a registration but then stops representing the registrant? You do not need to create a new legal representative account unless you do not have one. Furthermore, USCIS may also refer the individual or entity who submitted a false attestation to appropriate federal law enforcement agencies for investigation and further action as appropriate. A nonprofit research organization is an organization that is primarily engaged in basic research and/or applied research. For more information about the H-1B program, visit ourH-1B Specialty Occupationswebpage. This will result in the denial or revocation of both petitions. Then the new job would not be subject to the H-1B cap. As the H-1B visa holder, you do not have to receive permission from the former employer, though you should follow non-compete laws or any other contractual agreements with the employer. If information on the registration and petition does not match, USCIS may reject or deny the petition. If the employee works full-time, but for less than a year, they must get a prorated share of the $60,000. The H1b visa cap-exempt is limited to only certain US employers. Q8. Whats more, an employer can employ a foreign worker sooner than they usually would. If the visa found in your passport expires, that doesnt necessarily mean you have to leave the country right away because your legal status depends on the I-94 expiration date. You must submit this fee with a request for initial H-1B status or a request for a beneficiary already in H-1B status to change employers. Likewise, if USCIS approved an I-140, you can obtain an extension in three-year increments assuming the priority date isnt current. The question he had was whether he would be eligible to file a new cap-exempt H-1B petition. May an authorized signatory within the company, who is different from the authorized signatory who signed the H-1B electronic registration, sign the paper Form I-129? Q6. However, a person who works for an H-1B cap-exempt employer who changes jobs to an employer that is not exempt may become subject to the H-1B cap. The attorney would then be able to send the registrations to the relevant authorized official for that submission. The initial registration period for FY 2024 will open at noon Eastern on March 1 and run through noon Eastern on March 17. Where should a petitioner with a selected registration file their Form I-129 and supporting documentation? Based on evidence from the FY 2023 and FY 2024 H-1B cap seasons, USCIS has already undertaken extensive fraud investigations, denied and revoked petitions accordingly, and is in the process of initiating law enforcement referrals for criminal prosecution. Q28. 23, 2018) (PDF, 123.38 KB). Petitioners must file at the location indicated on the H-1B registration selection notice, which may be different from the historical Form I-129 filing jurisdictions for cap cases. The most significant benefit of the H-1B Portability rule is that it lets H-1B workers switch jobs without any risk of being out of status. issued a visa or otherwise be provided H-1B status to 65,000 with an additional 20,000 under the H-1B advanced degree exemption. If you have incurred a gap in employment (ceased employment with an H-1B employer before transfer), it is advised to file premium processing. USCIS intends to notify registrants and their representatives with selected registrations via their USCIS online accounts. If any information does not match, you should provide a written explanation and supporting documentation as to why there was a change or why the information does not match. According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). During the FY 2023 cap season, the overall selection rate was 26.9% - USCIS reports that 408,891 registrations were . A16. You must indicate a start date of Oct. 1 or later (of the applicable fiscal year, and 6 months or less from the receipt date of the petition) on your petition or your petition will be rejected or denied. Review our. You can find the H-1B and H-1B1 Data Collection and Filing Fee Exemption Supplement beginning on page 19 of Form I-129. This may include a copy of the signed, certified LCA. Is there an appeal process for registrations that USCIS finds are invalid duplicates? For regular H-1B candidates, they have to spend most of February and March registering for the lottery, waiting to hear if theyre selected, filing petitions if they are chosen, and, if approved, cant work until October 1. A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. For instance, a former client of VisaNation Law Group was employed in the U.S. from January 2003 to November 2006. A29. If they request you send additional documents and evidence, a new 15 calendar period will begin when they respond to the R.F.E. Claiming cap exemption status is an effective way for employers to attempt to avoid the H-1B cap. Alternatively, you can: You can continue to use a credit card, limiting your daily credit card transactions to a total of $39,999.99 per card. Make sure you are filing a valid edition of Form I-129, as specified in the Edition Date section on the, An explanation as to why a second petition is being filed, with supporting evidence, such as the notice from the delivery service; and. Historically, employers filed their full, and often voluminous, H-1B cap -subject petitions . Will the H-1B registration system affect how USCIS handles the prohibited filing of multiple H-1B petitions for the same beneficiary by related entities? A28. Therefore the transfer could be filed whenever they wanted. In order to qualify you must be able to show that: 1) You were in H-1B status in the US within the past 6 years. A26. If registering for the masters cap based on the expectation that the beneficiary will earn a qualifying advanced degree and the registration is selected under the masters cap, but the beneficiary does not obtain their qualifying advanced degree by the time of filing the cap-subject H-1B petition, is there a risk that USCIS will deny the cap-subject H-1B petition for that beneficiary? You may file an H-1B petition no more than six months before the employment start date requested for the beneficiary. Often finding an employer is the most time-consuming process. The recall feature is not available if the client has attempted to link the account. Please note that up to 6,800 visas are set aside from the 65,000 each fiscal year for the H-1B1 program under the terms of the legislation implementing the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore free trade agreements. The exception is if youre cap-exempt and moving to another cap-exempt employer. There are three types of USCIS online accounts: A prospective petitioner may only have one registration submitted per beneficiary per fiscal year. A9. You would be able to delete the registration for the beneficiary that contained the error without affecting the rest of the batch submission. USCIS previously announced that premium processing resumed on June 26 for H-1B petitions filed on behalf of physicians under the Conrad 30 waiver program as well as interested government agency waivers. The last thing you want to do is submit transfer documents and have them denied because of errors on your part. A18. - The agency selected 110,791 beneficiaries to reach the H-1B quota of 85,000, for an overall selection rate of 14.6%. Even if the attorney submitted a Form G-28 to represent a registrant for the registration process, they would still need to submit a new Form G-28 with the Form I-129 petition. We do not send the client passcode directly to the registrant. If a registration is selected and the petition is filed during the 90-day period, but it is rejected, will a petitioner be eligible to refile if they are still within the 90-day window? A6. The Form G-28 client passcode does not work when the client tries to enter it. Congress set the current annual regular cap for the H-1B category at 65,000. For example, Widget Inc. submits a registration for Aryan as a software engineer. Complete all required sections of the form accurately and in accordance with the regulations and form instructions. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) conducts a lottery to award H-1B slots to enough foreign workers to meet its 85,000 visa annual cap. Selected:Selected to file an H-1B cap petition. In such a situation, the petitioner should include a statement with their petition, with supporting documentation, explaining why the address on the registration differs from the address on the petition. If you will be represented by an attorney or other accredited representative, submit a properly completed Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Representative. USCIS will deny or revoke multiple or duplicative petitions filed by the same petitioner, for the same H-1B worker in the same fiscal year, and will not refund the filing fees. You must provide a copy of the H-1B Registration Selection Notice for the registration filed by your organization on behalf of the beneficiary with the petition. A33. April 1: The earliest date that FY 2024 H-1B cap-subject petitions may be filed. 2) You have not used your 6 years of H-1B status. Q14. If your payment fails, we will attempt to notify you, but the burden will be on you to determine the status of your required payment. USCIS may deny a petition, or revoke a petition approval, based on a registration that contained a false attestation and was therefore not properly submitted. This means an F-1 student filing for H1-B status on April 1 with a benefit start date of Oct. 1 may qualify for an extension of status and/or employment authorization. If your employer files your petition with premium processing and USCIS doesnt choose it in the lottery, USCIS will refund all fees. If there is a typo on the registration in comparison to the Form I-129, will USCIS reject the Form I-129 petition? If the employer is also paying for benefits, they can not be counted towards the $60,000. Yes. During the registration period for the FY 2024 H-1B cap, USCIS saw a significant increase in the number of registrations submitted compared to prior years. To qualify as an H-1B cap-exempt non-profit research or government research organization, the organization must meet the definition of a non-profit entity and its requirements: No. The H-1B program is an essential part of our nations immigration system and our economy, and USCIS is committed to implementing the law and helping meet the ever-changing needs of the U.S. labor market. Selections take place after the initial registration period closes, so there is no requirement to register on the day the initial registration period opens. Measures to Combat Fraud in the Registration Process. If your original sponsoring employer is cap-exempt and you wish to transfer to a cap-subject employer, then the latter employer will need to file an H-1B cap petition on your behalf. Moreover, according to USCIS, the ACWIA fee is also not required when: 2023 VisaNation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. However, in some cases, you can file H-1B applications without going through the H-1B cap. page. You can begin working the day the employer receives the receipt from the USCIS. A registrant will not be able to appeal our finding that the registrations are duplicates. Do not file petitions earlier than six months before the requested employment start date. If you are an attorney or representative, view the video below for steps on how to submit registrations for your clients. Beginning in FY 2023, the attestation that is required before submission indicates, I further certify that this registration (or these registrations) reflects a legitimate job offer and that I, or the organization on whose behalf this registration (or these registrations) is being submitted, have not worked with, or agreed to work with, another registrant, petitioner, agent, or other individual or entity to submit a registration to unfairly increase chances of selection for the beneficiary or beneficiaries in this submission.. A12. The DOL wage establishes and certifies the prevailing wage or the employers proposed wage, depending on which one is higher. We remain committed to deterring and preventing abuse of the registration process, and to ensuring only those who follow the law are eligible to file an H-1B cap petition. One of the significant restrictions to registering someone for an H-1B visa is that one employer cannot file various registrations on your behalf for the same job. See the section below on, A copy of the beneficiarys final transcript; or. The prohibition on an employer or related entities filing multiple H-1B cap petitions for the same beneficiary has not changed. If the worker transfers from a cap-exempt employer to a cap-subject employer, they will have to undergo the H1B lottery . If we select a registration under the advanced degree exemption (under INA 214(g)(5)(C)) because the beneficiary has earned, or will earn prior to the filing of the petition, a masters or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education, the beneficiary must be eligible for the advanced degree exemption at the time of filing Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. This will ensure that the I-797 receipt and approval notices are sent to the petitioner. March 1: H-1B registration period opens at noon Eastern. There is an error message that indicates an email mismatch or invalid passcode. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS You must agree to the Terms of Use, which include an attestation that you are the person that holds the account and that you will not share your account with others or allow others to use your account. 23, 2018). This chart shows registration and selection numbers for fiscal years 2021-2024 (as of April 24, 2023). My Case Scenario Jane Jane, a Venezuelan national, has degrees in Economics and Writing. The system will not prevent a representative and a registrant from both registering the same beneficiary. Please note that we do not take responsibility for the informations validity in the above database link. Legal services are provided by VisaNation Law Group PLLC, a Florida professional limited liability company. If a registrant no longer wants their attorney involved, they can end the relationship with the representative, and the registrant will still be able to see all registration information in their own registrant account(s).