Start Your Engines: H-1B Cap Registration Starts Tomorrow

As announced previously on our site, the initial registration period for the Fiscal Year 2025 H-1B cap will open on 12:00pm Eastern on March 6^th, 2024 and will close on March 22^nd, 2024 at 12:00pm EST. Like previous years, petitioners and representatives must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically and pay the current $10 registration fee per beneficiary. What’s new for this year is that USCIS has decided to implement online organizational accounts to carry out H-1B registrations, cap petitions, and associated Forms I-907 for petitioners whose registrations have been selected.

Although in most instances where the more you register for an event, the higher your chances are of selection, that is not the case for FY 2025 H-1B Cap registration. USCIS has announced as the H-1B Registration Final Rule that this beneficiary centric process will be selected by unique beneficiary as opposed to the registration. It has been done to ensure that each beneficiary has the same likelihood of selection, regardless of the number of registrations submitted on their behalf by an employer. For this initial registration, USCIS will require that the beneficiary provide the valid passport or a valid travel document that they will use to enter the US (if they are abroad) and that each beneficiary can only be registered under one passport or travel document. USCIS has created this measure in order to make sure individuals all have the same odds as selection as they now will be having the same amount of entries for this lottery: one.

Here are some important dates to keep in mind for this H-1B Cap season:

• February 28, 2024 – USCIS launched organizational accounts feature for organizations and legal representatives USCIS online account
• March 6, 2024 – FY 2025 H-1B Cap registration opens at 12:00pm EST
• March 22, 2024 – FY 2025 H-1B Cap registration closes at 12:00pm EST
• April 1, 2024 – USCIS will begin to accept filing for H-1B Cap registrants who have been selected
• April 1, 2024 – New editions of Form I-129 will be implemented
• April 1, 2024 – New filing fees will be required

While this process will be a new one of it’s kind for USCIS to roll out, our office will continue to be on top of any updates or alerts pertaining to this new policy. If you have any questions, please reach out to our office to speak with our staff and subscribe to our newsletter where we will be providing updates on everything you will need to know about this FY 2025 H-1B Cap season.