H-1B visa registrations begin, here’s all you need to know
The H-1B visa, a non-immigrant visa allowing US companies to hire foreign workers with specialised skills began registrations for the fiscal year 2025 on March 6.The US federal agency announced a major overhaul of its annual lottery for this speciality occupation visa in January this year, said a PTI report.
In a recent press conference, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed concerns about the H-1B visa process and the backlog of green card applications, emphasizing President Joe Biden's commitment to addressing issues within the legal immigration system.
To enhance collaboration and streamline processes, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the launch of myUSCIS organizational accounts.
Registrations in the last three years vs acceptance:
In 2022, there were a total of 308,613 registrations, from which 131,924 applications were selected for further processing. Moving to 2023, registrations increased to 483,927, with 127,600 applications being selected. In 2024, there was a notable rise in registrations, reaching 780,884, and the number of applications selected amounted to 188,400.
Important dates:
March 6: H-1B registration period opens
March 22: H-1B registration period closes
March 31: Date by which US Citizen and Immigration Services intends to notify selected registrants.
April 1: The earliest day when you can submit H-1B petitions for the 2025 fiscal year that were chosen during the initial selection process.
How to register?
In order to submit an H-1B registration, you must first create a USCIS online account.
The initial registration period for FY 2025 will open on March 6 and end on March 22. Both representatives and registrants must wait until March 1 to create and submit H-1B registrations.
Starting February 28, 2024, individuals submitting their own registrations (referred to as "registrants," including U.S. employers and U.S. agents) will use an "organizational" account, previously known as a "registrant" account. Registrants can create new organizational accounts from February 28, 2024. Existing registrant account holders can simply upgrade to an organizational account instead of making a new one.
Representatives can make an account anytime using the existing representative account type. If they already have a representative account, they don't need to create a new one. They can also upgrade to an organizational account starting on February 28, 2024.
What is the fee?
$10 is the fee for each registration and each registration is for a single beneficiary.
The U.S. Department of Treasury has approved a temporary increase in the daily credit card transaction limit from $24,999.99 to $39,999.99 per day for the FY 2024 H-1B cap season. This temporary increase is in response to stakeholder feedback and the volume of previous H-1B registrations that exceeded the daily credit card limit.
There is a daily transaction limit for credit cards of $24,999.99 per credit card per day. Alternatively, you can:
- Process transactions using a checking account. The checking account information (routing and account number) must be from a financial institution located in the United States; or
- Process transactions using a debit card from a financial institution located in the United States.
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