H-1B visa registrations for FY23 to begin from March 1
The application process for the much sought-after H-1B visa for fiscal year 2023 will begin on March 1, said the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Successful applicants will be randomly selected and notified online by March 31. USCIS said that potential applicants will be able to complete and submit their registrations through the online H-1B registration system till March 18.
Why does it matter?
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US businesses to hire foreign workers in specialist jobs that need specialized knowledge. Notably, the program attracts a large number of Indian applicants. In a financial year that begins in October in the US, 65,000 H-1B visas are given, with 20,000 visas allocated for holders of US master's degrees.
Intend to notify account holders by March 31: USCIS
The preliminary registration process for the fiscal year 2023 H-1B cap will begin at noon Eastern Time on March 1 and end on March 18, 2022, said USCIS. "If we receive enough registrations by March 18, we will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications via users' myUSCIS online accounts. We intend to notify account holders by March 31," it said.
Registrants to be assigned a confirmation number
USCIS will assign a confirmation number to each registration after it is completed. This number will only be used to track registrations and not to track the applicant's case status in Case Status Online. Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners must create a myUSCIS online account to register for the selection process and pay the associated $10 fee.
Registrants can create new accounts from February 21
A "registrant" account will be used by prospective applicants who submit their own registrations (US employers and US agents, together known as "registrants"). Registrants will be able to create new accounts starting noon Eastern Time on February 21. Representatives can add clients to their accounts, but registrants and representatives must wait until March 1 to enter beneficiary information and pay the fees.
H-1B visas issued in 2021 lowest in a decade
According to analysts, the number of H-1B visas issued in 2021 dropped to the lowest in a decade. In the fiscal year ending September 2021, preliminary applications for engineering and mathematics employment submitted by US firms under the H-1B visa programme declined by 12.6% compared to 2020, said an analysis by Bloomberg. The decline was due to delayed visa processing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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