Understanding Your H-1B Online Registration Status

By: Jacqueline Valle

Employers’ representatives and their attorneys must complete online H-1B visa registration on the myUSCIS web portal before it officially closes at 12:00 PM EST on Friday, March 20, 2020. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will run the H-1B cap lottery and notify employers of all selected beneficiaries by March 31, 2020.

After submitting online registrations, employers will be able to view the status of each registered beneficiary on myUSCIS. Employers may see one of four possible statuses for beneficiaries:

• Submitted: The registration has been successfully submitted. The file has not yet been selected in the lottery, and it remains in consideration until the end of the fiscal year.
• Selected: The H-1B beneficiary has been selected in the lottery. Employers and their attorneys may now file a completed H-1B petition for the beneficiary with USCIS, due within 90 days of March 31, 2020. Petitions can be submitted on April 1, 2020 at the earliest. Without receiving this status, employers cannot file a beneficiary’s H-1B petition.
• Not Selected: The H-1B registration has not been selected in the H-1B lottery. This status will not appear until the end of the fiscal year. If there are not enough registrations to meet the cap, USCIS may draw additional beneficiaries from this pool.
• Denied: Registrations will be denied if the same petitioner filed for the same beneficiary more than once in the same fiscal year. All duplicate registrations will be denied.

Before submitting online registration for your prospective H-1B employee, it is critical to work with your attorney to evaluate their qualifications and ensure they qualify for the visa. Review our complete list of H-1B deadlines to stay on schedule.

For help evaluating your H-1B candidate prior to online registration, registering them on myUSCIS, or any other H-1B visa assistance, please contact us at info@chugh.com.