Employers who wish to file cap-subject H-1B petitions for this fiscal year, must first comply with the registration process, which runs from March 1st to March 20th 2020. The employer must first create an account through myuscis.gov, prior to March 1st.
The purpose of the registration period is to allow employers to file basic information about the Company and basic biographic data about each proposed beneficiary, and then to have USCIS run the lottery and select which registrants will receive H-1B visa numbers.
Once a registrant is selected and receives a visa number, the employer will then be able to file an H-1B petition on his or her behalf.
In order to register a potential beneficiary, the employer simply has to provide: 1) the employer’s legal business name; 2) any dbas (doing business as) trade names; 3) FEIN (federal employer identfication number; 4) primary U.S. office address; 5) name, title and contact information of the responsable employee or executive who will be signing the papers.
Only very basic information about the beneficiary will be required: 1) complete name; 2) gender; 3) does the beneficiary hold a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution, and eligible for the advanced degree exemption?; 4) country of birth and country of citizenship; 5) Passport number.
No information about the job offer is required, so no need to submit any job titles or job descriptions. The employer also does not need any certified LCA (Labor Condition Application) prior to registering. Registrations may be edited prior to the end of the registration period, if there are any typographical errors or changes to make.
When the registration is submitted online, the authorized signatory is certifying under penalty of perjury that all the information is true and correct. The employer has to pay a $10 registration fee for each potential beneficiary (registrant).
However, even though no certified LCA is required to register, it may be a good idea to get your LCAs certified prior, as once a registrant is selected to receive a visa number, the employer will then need to be ready to file an H-1B petition, which of course requires a pre-certified LCA.
Attorneys may submit registrations on behalf of employers. Attorneys also need to créate their own account with myuscis.gov.
If a registrant, meaning a beneficiary, is selected through the lottery, the employer should be able to file an H-1B petition on April 1st or the first business day after. USCIS has stated that it intends to notify employers no later than March 31st 2020 if their registrant has been selected. However, if an employer is unable to file the H-1B petition during the first week in April, it is not a tragedy, as the USCIS rule provides that USCIS will set a 90-day window to file the actual H-1B petitions, once the registrants who will receive H-1B visa numbers are selected.
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