On March 29, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had completed the initial H-1B regular cap and master’s cap selection process for fiscal year (FY) 2023. Continuing its use of an electronic preregistration system to conduct the random selection lottery, USCIS confirmed that it has sent notifications to registrant employers and their representatives about selection results.
According to USCIS’s press release, the agency updated each registered beneficiary’s registrant account on myUSCIS.gov to show one of the following statuses:
- Submitted: Registrations that show a “submitted” status remain in consideration for selection in the H-1B cap lottery until the fiscal year has ended or subsequently invalidated.
- Selected: If the beneficiary’s registration status shows as “selected,” the registrant employer may file a complete H-1B petition for that beneficiary.
- Denied: A “denied” status signifies that the registrant submitted more than one registration for a particular beneficiary. In this circumstance, USCIS invalidates each registration submitted by the registrant for this beneficiary for the fiscal year.
- Invalidated-Failed Payment: If there was an issue with the payment for a submitted registration and “the payment method was declined, rejected, disputed, or cancelled after submission,” the registration will be shown as an “invalidated-failed payment.”
According to the press release, USCIS-confirmed registrants will have at least a 90-day window, beginning April 1, 2022, in which to file full H-1B petitions for registered beneficiaries selected in the FY 2023 lottery.
Ogletree Deakins’ Immigration Practice Group will continue to monitor developments with respect to the H-1B registration process and will post updates on the firm’s Immigration blog as additional information becomes available. Important information for employers is also available via the firm’s webinar and podcast programs.
