Immigration Roundup: New H-1B Cap Season Updates for FY 2025 and Beyond

In this blog post, we share with you some new updates for the H-1B cap season for fiscal year 2025 and beyond.

H-1B Cap Initial Registration Period FY 2025

USCIS has announced that the initial registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap season will open at noon Eastern time on March 6, 2024, and run through noon Eastern time on March 22, 2024.

During the registration period, prospective petitioners and their representatives, must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary.

For more information on the H-1B Cap Season, visit H-1B Cap Season webpage.

Organizational Accounts and Online Filing for Forms I-129 and I-907

On February 28, 2024, USCIS will launch new organizational accounts in the USCIS online account webpage that will allow multiple people within an organization and their legal representatives to collaborate on and prepare H-1B registrations, H-1B petitions, and any associated Form I-907, online.

Also on February 28, USCIS will launch online filing of Form I-129 and associated Form I-907 for non-cap H-1B petitions.

Online Filing of H-1B Cap Petitions and I-907 Starting April 1, 2024

On April 1, 2024, USCIS will begin accepting online filing for H-1B cap petitions and associated Forms I-907 for petitioners whose registrations have been selected.

Petitioners will continue to have the option of filing a paper Form I-129 H-1B petition and any associated Form I-907 if they prefer. However, during the initial launch of organizational accounts, users will not be able to link paper-filed Forms I-129 and I-907 to their online accounts.

Increase in Premium Processing Fees Effective February 26, 2024

As a reminder, USCIS recently announced a final rule increasing the filing fee for Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service, from $2,500 to $2,805 for I-129 H-1B petitions, and other classifications, effective February 26, 2024.

If USCIS receives a Form I-907 postmarked on or after Feb. 26, 2024, with the incorrect filing fee, USCIS will reject the Form I-907 and return the filing fee. For filings sent by commercial courier (such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL), the postmark date is the date reflected on the courier receipt.

Additionally, USCIS will extend the premium processing adjudication period from 15 calendar days to business days, which will prolong premium processing adjudications by one week or more, depending on the case type.

Increase in H-1B Filing Fee and Electronic Registration Fee

A new final rule will increase the H-1B petition filing fee from $460 to $780 effective April 1, 2024.

H-1B Electronic Registration Fee Increase Starting FY 2026

The final rule will also increase the H-1B cap electronic registration fee for cap-subject H-1B petitions to $215 per registration, from $10 under the current fee schedule.

The new registration fee will not affect FY 2025 cap registrations, for which the fee will remain $10. The higher registration fee will be implemented starting with the FY 2026 cap season in March 2025.

New Edition of Form I-129

A new edition of Form I-129 for H petitions and other classifications, will soon be available on the USCIS website (edition date 04/01/24). Effective April 1, 2024, only the 04/01/24 edition of Form I-129 will be accepted.

New Final Rule Published in the Federal Register to Improve the H-1B Electronic Registration Process and Combat Fraud

On February 2, 2024, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule in the Federal Register entitled “Improving the H-1B Registration Selection Process and Program Integrity,” which becomes effective on March 4, 2024.

The purpose of the final rule is to strengthen the integrity and reduce the potential for fraud in the H-1B electronic registration process to ensure that beneficiaries have an equal chance of being selected, despite the number of registrations submitted on their behalf.

Highlights

The Final Rule creates a beneficiary-centric selection process for H-1B registrations

Effective March 4, 2024, instead of selecting by registration, USCIS will select registrations by unique beneficiary.

This means that each unique beneficiary who has a registration submitted on their behalf will be entered into the selection process once, regardless of how many registrations are submitted on their behalf.

If a beneficiary is selected, each registrant that submitted a registration on that beneficiary’s behalf will be notified of the beneficiary’s selection and will be eligible to file a petition for that beneficiary’s during the applicable petition filing period.

Why the change? Changing to a beneficiary centric selection process for H–1B registrations will reduce the potential for gaming the process to increase chances for selection and help ensure that each beneficiary has the same chance of being selected, regardless of how many registrations are submitted on their behalf.

Start Date Flexibility for Certain H-1B Cap Petitions

The Final Rule clarifies the requirements regarding the requested employment start date on H–1B cap-subject petitions to permit filing with requested start dates that are after October 1 of the relevant fiscal year.

Integrity Measures for Electronic Registration starting with FY 2025

Starting with the FY 2025 initial registration period, USCIS will require registrants to provide valid passport information or valid travel document information for each beneficiary. The passport or travel document provided must be the one the beneficiary, if or when abroad, intends to use to enter the United States if issued an H-1B visa. Each beneficiary must only be registered under one passport or travel document.

Accordingly, the final rule prohibits a beneficiary from being registered under more than one passport or travel document.

DHS is also codifying USCIS’ ability to deny H–1B petitions or revoke an approved H–1B petition where: there is a change in the beneficiary’s identifying information from the identifying information as stated in the registration to the information as stated in the petition; the underlying registration contained a false attestation or was otherwise invalid; the registration fee was invalid; or where the H–1B cap-subject petition was not based on a valid registration.

DHS is also further codifying USCIS’ authority to deny an H petition where the statements on the petition, H–1B registration, labor condition application (LCA), or temporary labor certification (TLC), as applicable, were inaccurate, fraudulent, or misrepresented a material fact, including if the attestations on the H–1B registration are determined to be false.

Finally, DHS is codifying USCIS’ ability to revoke an approved H petition where the statements on the petition, H–1B registration, TLC, or the LCA, as applicable, were inaccurate, fraudulent, or misrepresented a material fact, including if the attestations on the H–1B registration are determined to be false.

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