Helpful Information Regarding FY2024 H-1B CAP

This update is intended to answer common questions about the H-1B Cap for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024.

Registration and Lottery

Under the government’s current online registration process, McCown & Evans (M&E) submits an online registration for each company and H-1B beneficiary during the period between March 1 to March 17, 2023. The registration includes basic information about the company/petitioner and the employee/beneficiary, and a $10 registration fee. After the registration period ends on March 17, 2023, USCIS will randomly select H-1B Cap registrations from the ones it has received. This will happen no later than March 31, 2023. USCIS will select sufficient registrations to meet the 65,000 Regular cap and an additional 20,000 exemption for the Master’s cap (applicants with U.S. Master’s degrees or higher from accredited non-profit colleges/universities). M&E will be notified of the lottery selections and will send emails to each H-1B applicant selected in the lottery starting on Monday, April 3, 2023, with a cc to the HR representative. If your employee’s registration is not selected, the registration will continue to appear as “submitted” until USCIS determines that it has received enough petitions to meet the cap. Once the cap has been reached, registrations that were not selected will be updated online as “not selected.”

Filing Petitions

Beginning in April 2023, M&E will work with companies to file H-1B petitions for selected H-1B applicants with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), during a 90-day filing window that ends on June 30, 2023. For selected registrations, M&E will confirm with the H-1B applicant and company if there have been any changes to previously provided information/documents (such as change of address/worksite, change in salary or title, international travel, new I-94 record, etc.).

H-1B cap petitions (and any accompanying H-4 applications for dependent family members) are usually adjudicated by USCIS in 4-7 months if filed with regular processing, and 15 calendar days if filed with premium processing. Employers may choose to upgrade H-1B petitions to premium processing at a later date if it was initially filed with regular processing.

Important Dates

– February 21: Employers began creating myUSCIS H-1B registration accounts
– March 1: Registration period opened at 12:00 noon (ET)
– March 20: Registration period closes at 12:00 noon (ET)
– By March 31: USCIS conducts the lottery and electronically notifies selected registrants
– April 1: Filing period begins for selected cases ONLY
– June 30: Filing period ends for selected cases

If you have any questions about the H-1B cap process, please reach out to your attorney at McCown & Evans. If you are a new client, please contact us at 415-432-5300 or by email to info@mccownevans.com

McCown & Evans will continue to monitor the new policies and will provide additional updates as information is released. And, as always, reach out to your attorney at McCown & Evans with any questions.