The USCIS recently disclosed that the annual limit for the 2023 Fiscal Year (FY) H-1B cap was met, and, therefore, the lottery selection process is complete for FY 2023. The USCIS has notified sponsoring employers along with their attorneys of the selection results. This means they will now be able to see their submission status when they view their registered accounts.

There were well more than the necessary 65,000 required submissions necessary to meet the quota for standard H-1B cap numbers submitted in the initial registration period. There were also enough registrations to meet the cap exemption of 20,000 required for those foreign nations holding U.S. advanced degrees. The USCIS has not yet stated how many cap registrations were submitted.

On March 26 and 27, 2022, the USCIS did post updates concerning the H-1B registration process on its registration portal. It was expected that the USCIS would receive more registrations than there were available H-1B numbers, with a quota of 85,000 new H-1B filings. This is why a lottery was necessary. Now, it seems that the USCIS has finished notifying all the selected registrations.

This means that the employers, along with their attorneys, will have to log in to the USCIS registration portal so that they can view the status of all of their registrations. Each registration will receive one of the following statuses:

Selected: This would indicate that the registration was one of those selected in the H-1B lottery. Those employers who have had a registration selected will need to complete and submit an H-1B petition within 90 days to the USCIS for adjudication. The filing window for H-1B petitions starts on April 1, 2022, and will end on June 30, 2022.

Submitted: This would indicate that the registration was submitted correctly, but it was not selected. The registration will be kept in reserve in case the USCIS doesn’t receive an H-1B registration for every one of the registrations that were selected. If not all selections file an application, the USCIS could potentially hold another lottery later in the year. If they do hold a subsequent lottery, some of the registrations that were not selected in the original lottery may be selected.

The system would continue to indicate the status for these registrations as being submitted probably until the petition filing window is closed. Once the petition filing window ends, the USCIS will need to see if each of the selected registrations filed a petition. For each of the previous two years, the USCIS has held a second H-1B lottery late in the month of July.

Denied / Invalidated-Failed Payment: The USCIS will decline a registration if the employer submitted more than one registration for the same beneficiary or should the payment be declined or not be reconciled.

For those that do obtain an H-1B visa for their candidate, there can be a lot of complicated forms to complete. One of the most complicated and confusing forms to complete is Form I-9.

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