USCIS opened the H-1B electronic registration period on March 1, 2022 at noon eastern time. During the registration period, companies or their representatives have been logging into their myUSCIS accounts and submitting their candidates through the system. USCIS intends to close the initial registration period on March 18, 2022 at noon eastern time.

For FY 2021, USCIS received 274,237 H-1B registrations and initially selected 106,100 registrations projected as needed to reach the FY 2021 numerical allocations. USCIS conducted a second selection in August 2020 of an additional 18,315 registrations due to low filing volume from the initial selection. This resulted in a total of 124,415 selected registrations.

For FY 2022, USCIS received 308,613 H-1B registrations and initially selected 87,500 registrations projected as needed to reach the FY 2022 numerical allocations. On July 29, 2021, USCIS announced that they conducted a second selection of an additional 27,717 registrations. This resulted in a total of 115,217 selected registrations. The petition filing period based on registrations selected on July 28 began on Aug. 2 and closed on Nov. 3. On Nov. 19, 2021, USCIS announced that they conducted a third selection of an additional 16,753 registrations. This resulted in a total of 131,970 selected registrations. The petition filing period based on registrations selected on Nov. 19 began on Nov. 22, 2021, and closes on Feb. 23, 2022.

It is predicted that this year there will be a much higher number of registrations submitted.

Registration Selection: Once USCIS conducts the lottery after the registration period closes, Electronic notices will be sent to all registrants with selected registrations. These notices will inform the registrant they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition on behalf of the individual named in the notice, within the filing period indicated on the notice. The account holder who submitted the selected registration will receive notification via email or text message stating that an action has been added to their account, and they will have to log in to see the full notice. USCIS intends to notify registrants with selected registrations from the initial registration period no later than March 31, 2022.

Once USCIS notifies companies and/or authorized representatives of the selected registrations, the myUSCIS account will show one of the following statutes for each registration submitted:

• Submitted: The registration has been submitted and is eligible for selection. If the initial selection process has been completed, this registration remains eligible, unless subsequently invalidated, for selection in any subsequent selections for the fiscal year for which it was submitted.
• Selected: Selected to file an H-1B cap petition.
• Not Selected: Not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.
• 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.
• Invalidated-Failed Payment: A registration was submitted but the payment method was declined, not reconciled, disputed, or otherwise invalid.

Reddy Neumann Brown PC will continue to provide updates as additional information is received from USCIS about this year’s H-1B cap season.