NEW H1B REGISTRATION SYSTEM
WILL BE IMPLEMENTED THIS MARCH
Starting in March, employers
who wish to file H-1B petitions for their employees must register each employee
/ applicant in a lottery to take place before the filing season starts on April
1st.
The initial registration period
will open from March 1 through March 20, 2020. During this period, the
electronic registration must be submitted by the employer or its authorized
representative.
If the number of registrations
exceeds the H-1B numerical allocation, a lottery will be conducted between
March 20 and March 31, 2020. Only those petitioners who “win the lottery” –
in other words are selected in the first group of eligible applicants – will be
able to file a cap-subject petition for that candidate.
The H-1B petition will then
still need to be found eligible in all respects in order to obtain approval.
Under current law, no more than 65,000 H-1B
visas can be issued each year. This quota
has been used up in the first week of the application process for each of the
last 5 years. So, in the past, applications
had to be submitted on April 1st and any applications submitted
later were typically not considered.
This new procedure will prevent employers
from having to submit applications to CIS, knowing that only approximately
one-third will even be considered.
However, because the lottery is occurring
so late (March 20-31st) it
will require many lawyers to have the petitions largely prepared before getting
the lottery results.
For more information on the H-1b visa and the eligibility
requirements under the law, go to: https://kpblawfirm.blogspot.com/2019/02/howto-obtain-professional-visa-h-1b-by.html
