On Friday, January 27, 2023, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the online registration period for H-1B quota selection for the upcoming fiscal year will begin on March 1 at 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Time and run through 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Time on March 17. This year's registration window is one day shorter than it was last year. The FY2024 H-1B quota is for H-1B registrations and petitions filed to USCIS in the spring of 2023, with a start date of October 1, 2023, or later.
The registration system for this year is similar to prior years' H-1B registrations. Registrations will be submitted electronically and will require a non-refundable $10 registration fee. Assuming that USCIS receives more registrations than the allotted number of 85,000 available H-1B petitions, USCIS will conduct a computer-generated lottery among all registrations. USCIS will complete its process of notifying employers of selected H-1B registrants by March 31. Employers with selected cases will then be eligible to file an H-1B petition to USCIS within a designated 90-day period following registration selection. As mentioned above, approved H-1B petitions will be effective on October 1, 2023 — the start of the government's 2024 fiscal year — or later.
Mintz will also provide detailed instructions to our clients on accessing an existing account or creating a new employer account for H-1B registration. Employers will be able to create new accounts beginning at noon Eastern Time on February 21. However, employers and their attorneys or representatives must wait until March 1 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $10 fee.
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