fisherphillips.com

Presented by: Jocelyn Campanaro, Partner

FY2021 H-1B Cap Registration Process

Navigating the New H-1B Registration Process for FY2021

Key Changes, Deadlines and More

fisherphillips.com

What We Will Cover:

1. H-1B Cap Background

2. Program Changes

3. Best Practices / Tips

fisherphillips.com

H-1B Cap Background:

1. 85,000 H-1B visas allotted for each year

1. 20,000 reserved for U.S. Master’s degree holders

2. 65,000 for Bachelor’s degrees

2. Each year, employers can start applying April 1st

3. Start date on or after October 1st

fisherphillips.com

H-1B Cap Background:

1. Annual Lottery

2. Notification of acceptance,premium processing, RFEs,denials, etc.

fisherphillips.com

Proposed Changes

1. Employers must register each employee for whom it wants to sponsor for H-1B status

2. Registration occurs 12pm EST March 1st – 12pm EST March 20th

3. Notification of acceptance in H-1B lottery will be issued by March 31st

4. Can file on or after April 1st – must be filed within 90 days

fisherphillips.com

Registration

1. Must register with USCIS to participate in H-1B cap selection process – www.uscis.gov

fisherphillips.com

Create an Account Employers and company reps create own account

Registration

fisherphillips.com

Two-Step Verification

In addition to a password, will need to enter a verification code, which will be sent through authentication app, text or email.

Will be required to provide five security questions and answers.

Registration

fisherphillips.com

Registration – Company Information

fisherphillips.com

Registration – Company Information

1. Company Legal Name

2. Doing Business As

3. FEIN

4. Primary Office Address

5. Authorized Signatory

First, last and middle name, if applicable

Title, phone number and email address

fisherphillips.com

Registration – Beneficiary Information

fisherphillips.com

Registration – Beneficiary Information

1. First, last and middle, if applicable

2. Gender, date of birth, and whether eligible for Master’s cap (qualifying master’s or higher degree from an eligible U.S. institution of higher education)

3. Country of birth, country of citizenship or nationality and passport number

fisherphillips.com

$10 fee for each employee registered.

One Registration Per Beneficiary in any fiscal year

• If more than one registration per beneficiary is submitted, all registrations submitted by your company for that beneficiary will be deemed invalid and deleted from the selection process.

• Be sure to review registration lists before March 20 and delete any duplicate registrations.

Up to 250 registrations during same registration and submission

• For more than 250 beneficiaries, a new submission and payment process is required.

• No overall limit on the total number of registrations that may be submitted per employer/agent.

Registration

fisherphillips.com

Registration – Review and Submit

• Once registrations are submitted, system will provide a review summary of the entire registration, including company information and each beneficiary.

• Registration list may be exported as an excel file.

fisherphillips.com

Registration - Review and Submit

• To finalize, select Authorized Signatory Statement and Signature block.

fisherphillips.com

Registration – Form G-28

fisherphillips.com

Registration – Form G-28

• Once registration is complete, attorneys/representatives will be required to create and submit Form G-28

• Attorney information and company signatory information is required

• Will be provided opportunity to review before submitting

fisherphillips.com

Registration – Form G-28

• Once Form G-28 is complete, the system will generate a passcode

• The passcode will need to be entered by the company representative in their own USCIS online account

• Passcode is good for 30 days

• Employer signatories may create account on or after 2/24/2020

fisherphillips.com

Registration – Form G-28• Company representative will need to

log into their account and enter passcode to sign and submit the G-28

fisherphillips.com

Registration - Pay and Submit

• Payment of the $10 fee will be made through pay.gov, a government website separate from the USCIS website.

• Registration fee may be paid through bank account, credit card or debit card.

• Final rule states that payment of registration fee is responsibility of employer, not the employee.

• To be considered for the initial registration period and associated selection process, payments and the H-1B registrations must be submitted before the end of the initial registration period on March 20.

fisherphillips.com

Complete Registration

• Confirmation page that registration has been submitted.

• Each registration receives a registration number.

• Go to “my cases” to see list of registrations.

fisherphillips.com

Complete Registration

• Can “View all cases” to see current status of all of your H-1B registrations.

• Status for each registration/beneficiary shows as “submitted.”

• Each beneficiary will be assigned a confirmation number – a unique 19-digit identifier assigned to each registration for each beneficiary in a submission.

• Can export to excel table.

fisherphillips.com

Registration status“Submitted”

"Submitted" registrations will remain in consideration for selection until the end of the fiscal year (after selection process has been completed), at which point all registration statuses will be Selected, Not Selected, or Denied.

“Selected” means employee has been selected to file an H-1B cap-subject petition.

May file H-1B cap petition for named beneficiaries named on or after April 1, 2020.

Must file within the 90-day period. Include copy of selection notice in petition.

Selection does not guarantee H-1B approval.

“Denied (Duplicated)”

Occurs if more than one registration was filed for beneficiary by same registrant. All registrations filed by registrant on behalf of this beneficiary are invalid.

Reminder: you can log into account to review registrations and delete duplicates, up until registration process closes on March 20. After this, remaining duplicate registrations will be considered invalid and status will indicate “Denied.”

“Not Selected” means not selected for this fiscal year.

At the end of the fiscal year, any registrations that were not selected as part of any selection process will be updated to “Not Selected.”

fisherphillips.com

Selected Cases

• If Selected, notification will be sent by March 31st

• Notification letter will specify the required 90 day period during which H-1B petition must be received by USCIS

• Notification letter will specify the USCIS service center for filing

• Notices are sent via email or text, and will be available in account

• When filing case, include acceptance notice on top of filing

• Selection does not guarantee H-1B approval

fisherphillips.com

Resources

Account sign up/login: my.uscis.gov/account

Technical support / password resets: https://my.uscis.gov/account/needhelp

USCIS Contact Center: 1-800-375-5283

www.uscis.gov/h-1b

https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/electronic-reading-room

fisherphillips.com

Final Questions??

Presented by:Jocelyn Campanaro

Phone: (303) 218-3667 | Email: jcampanaro@fisherphillips.com