USCIS Announce New Registration Process for H1B Visa

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS came up with some updates for the H-1B Visa procedure. It implemented the new guidelines for the electronic registration process to apply for an H-1B Visa by the financial year 2021.

The process of registration is scheduled to start on1st March at noon EST and will end by 20th March at noon EST.

Read More: USA Invites Applications for FY2021 H1B Visa

Following are some details regarding the new USCIS guidelines:

• According to the new guidelines for the new registration process, the registrants and their following authorized representatives must create an online USCIS account. 
• When filling the details, the applicants need to choose the “I am H-1B registrant” option on the site. 
• The USCIS has urged to the H-1B petitioners to apply or create an account on days between the 24th and 28th of February. The USCIS noted that creating an account between these days would result in a smoother process of the new registration.
• A formal date is yet to be declared regarding the following lottery. Immigration experts, however, have noted the first selection would be finished by 31st March of this year. After the completion of the process, the USCIS will inform the applicants about the selected beneficiaries. 
• There would be suitable correspondence for every applicant on the online account of the USCIS. The following applicants will get around 90 days to complete their H-1B formalities application for the selected beneficiaries.

The registrants can get one of the following statuses regarding their USCIS account:

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1. Selected

If an applicant has been selected, then they need to file the complete H-1B petition for the selected beneficiary. This has to be done within 90 days.

2. Submitted

The following status tells the applicant that the lottery entry has been submitted and not the H-1B petition. If in the annual H-1B quota of 85000, there are some places for Visa left, then, the USCIS will make further additional selections.

3. Not Selected

This status would not be displayed for any applicants until the conclusion of the lottery process. That will end by the end of this financial year.

4. Denied

If an applicant applies for a beneficiary more than once, then they would get the following status. An applicant is not allowed to enter more than once for a beneficiary.

For the US Master’s cap, the USCIS also went on to explain the procedure. There are some conditions for the applicant to be eligible under the Master’s cap for the H-1B Visa.

An applicant needs to complete their Masters, any advanced or specialized course from the US. In order to apply for the Master’s cap, an applicant also needs to have completed their masters before 90 days or three months. 

This should be done before the day of filing of the petition for the H-1B Visa. It should be after the completion of the lottery process. Unlike previous times, the USCIS has not confirmed its status regarding the premium processing of H-1B visas.