USCIS Publishes Proposed Rule on H-1B Electronic Registration

The Federal Register: March 3, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 42) has announced a proposed rule. Under the proposed rule, employers seeking to petition for H-1B workers subject to the statutory cap would register electronically with USCIS. Before the petition filing period begins, USCIS would select the number of registrations predicted to exhaust all available visas. Employers would then file petitions only for the selected registrations.

Two Week Filing Window

The proposal, often referred to as an “H-1B pre-registration lottery,” would require employers to register online during a filing window of at least two weeks. The registration would begin no later than March of every year. Petitioners would submit identifying information about the petitioner and beneficiary through the USCIS Web site.

Multiple Applications Not Allowed

Employers would file a separate registration for each requested beneficiary and each beneficiary would need to be named. If USCIS received more than one application from an employer for a beneficiary, only the first would be registered and the others would be rejected. USCIS would, however, accept more than one registration for a foreign national if sponsored by different employers.

Winners and Losers

Employers would receive electronic notification of registration. USCIS may also create a waiting list of some or all of those not selected. Ultimately, employers should be notified about all applications–whether registered, waitlisted, or not selected. Employers would be required to submit their cap petitions within a specific time frame after registration. The proposed rule suggests 60 days, but the actual time period will be specified in the final version of the rule.

We will see how many of the proposed changes survive through the comment period.