H-1B Electronic Registration System

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposes to establish a mandatory Internet-based electronic registration process for U.S. employers seeking to file H-1B petitions for alien workers subject to either the 65,000 or 20,000 cap. The entire Internet registration process would commence each year in advance of the filing period for actual petitions.

Under the proposed registration process, each petitioning employer would be required to file registrations electronically through the USCIS Web site (http://www.uscis.gov). USCIS proposes to establish a registration period that would begin no later than in the month of March each year, for a minimum period of two weeks. USCIS would notify the public of the respective start and end dates for the registration period via the USCIS Web site. All registrations would be required to be filed during the timeframes announced by USCIS on its public Web site. USCIS would not accept any registrations filed either before or after the close of the specified registration period.

This rule proposes that registrations must include basic information regarding the company and beneficiary: (1) The employer’s name, employer identification number (EIN), and employer’s mailing address; (2) the authorized representative’s name, job title, and contact information (telephone number and e-mail address); (3) the beneficiary’s full name, date of birth, country of birth, country of citizenship, gender and passport number; and (4) any additional information requested by the registration or USCIS.

USCIS has determined that the content noted above is the minimum information that USCIS will need to identify the prospective H-1B petitioner and specific named beneficiary, to eliminate duplicate registrations, and to match approved and selected registrations with subsequently filed H-1B petitions.

USCIS proposes to require U.S. employers who choose to participate in the registration process to file a single registration for each prospective H-1B temporary worker they seek to hire. Multiple beneficiaries cannot be listed on a single registration. In addition, petitioners may not file multiple registrations for the same H-1B beneficiary. USCIS recognizes that, because this would be a new system, petitioners or their preparers may accidentally or unintentionally submit more than one registration on behalf of a single beneficiary. Therefore, this rule proposes that if USCIS receives more than one registration for a single H-1B beneficiary by the same petitioner, USCIS will accept the first valid registration and reject any subsequent duplicate requests.

Each U.S. employer who submits a properly completed H-1B Cap Registration request online will receive electronically an automatic notification that the registration request has been accepted by USCIS (note, acceptance is not the same as selection). The notification will be in a printable format and contain a unique identifying number for USCIS tracking and recordkeeping purposes. Registering employers can retain a hard copy of the acceptance notification for their files.