On March 30, 2021, USCIS announced that they have received enough H-1B electronic registrations during the initial registration period to reach the fiscal year (FY) 2022 H-1B numerical allocations including for the advanced degree master’s cap exemption. The agency randomly selected from registrations properly submitted to reach the H-1B cap, and they have notified all prospective petitioners with selected registrations that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration.
Consequently, online accounts for registrants will now have one of the following statuses for each registration (i.e., for each beneficiary registered):
Selected: The registration has been selected to file an H-1B cap petition;
Submitted: The registration has been submitted and is eligible for selection. This registration remains eligible unless subsequently invalidated for selection in any subsequent selections for the fiscal year for which it was submitted;
Denied: Multiple registrations were submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for the same beneficiary. If denied as a duplicate registration, all registrations submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for this beneficiary for the fiscal year are invalid; or
Invalidated-Failed Payment: Payment method was declined, not reconciled, or otherwise invalid for submitted registration.
Those with a valid, selected registration for FY 2022 may file their H-1B cap petition with USCIS beginning April 1, 2021. Only petitioners with selected registrations, and only for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration notice, may file H-1B cap-subject petitions for FY 2022. USCIS also has some key reminders for those selected and filing the H-1B cap petition:
When completing Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker, ensure that Question 5 in Supplement H on page 13 regarding the Beneficiary Confirmation Number is included. Petitioners may replace Supplement H in their petition by printing out and completing pages 13 and 14 from the current version of Form I-129 on USCIS.gov and including with their petition. Starting July 1, 2021, USCIS will only accept the 03/10/21 edition of Form I-129. Until then, petitioners can also use the 09/30/20 and 01/27/20 editions;
Petitioners should file the H-1B cap-subject petition at the correct service center and within the filing period indicated on the relevant registration selection notice. Online electronic filing is not available for H-1B petitions. Petitioners filing H-1B petitions must do so by paper, and should include a printed copy of the applicable registration selection notice with the FY 2022 H-1B cap-subject petition. The filing period for H-1B cap-subject petitions will be at least ninety days; and
Even if their electronic registration has been selected in the cap, petitioners must still submit evidence and establish eligibility based on existing statutory and regulatory requirements in their H-1B filing.
Petitioners and beneficiaries can also visit the H-1B Electronic Registration Process page on USCIS.gov for more information.
UPDATE July 30, 2021: USCIS reported a second random selection from previously submitted FY 2022 H-1B Cap Registrations was conducted on July 28, 2021. Additional registrations submitted for the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) H-1B Lottery have been selected and notifications have been sent out. The notifications give petitioning employers from August 2, 2021, to November 3, 2021, to submit petitions.
UPDATE June 17, 2021: USCIS has released information and data about the FY 2022 H-1B cap. The agency reported that during FY 2022 cap registration period, employers submitted 308,613 registrations for selection in the cap lottery and selected 87,500 registrations to meet the 2022 Fiscal Year annual quota of 85,000. “The registrations were submitted by more than 37,000 prospective petitioners and roughly 48% of all registrations requested consideration under the advanced degree exemption,” the press release noted.
USCIS continues to monitor the filing rates of petitions and will determine, when the filing period closes, whether they will need to make a second selection this year to reach the FY 2022 H-1B numerical allocations, as they did during the FY 2021 H-1B cap season because their first selection did not result in sufficient petition filings to meet the numerical allocations.