Blog : Immigration Practice

USCIS has completed the H-1B lottery selection process and has completed notifying those selected in the first round of selection. 

If any registration(s) for your company have been selected, you will have received an email from myUSCIS stating that USCIS has taken action on your case.  To review which case(s) were selected, you may log in to your myUSCIS account. 

• “Selected” means that the case was selected.
• “Submitted” means that the case will be kept “in reserve” in case any additional numbers become available.  USCIS will not provide final confirmation of non-selection until after September 30. In prior years, USCIS has not provided final confirmation of non-selection until February of the following year.

We have notified any selected beneficiaries in a separate email.  We will move forward with preparing an H-1B petition for those selected beneficiaries.  If we need further information from you, we will be in touch. 

If there are additional rounds of the lottery, we will be in touch once we have any updates.  

Over the weekend, USCIS began the process of notifying employers of registrations that were selected in this year’s H-1B lottery. To date, USCIS has not yet confirmed that it is done notifying all selected registrants. There may be additional notifications until March 31, unless USCIS makes an announcement before then, stating that it has completed notifying selected registrants.

Until then, we may have incomplete information about who was selected in this round of this year’s lottery. We are working to notify the lottery results to all selected candidates timely. We thank you for your patience as we wait for USCIS to complete notifying selected registrants.

UPDATE: The H-1B lottery registration window will be opening next Tuesday, March 1, 2022 and will close on March 18, 2022. 

Today, we provided a complimentary webinar with a comprehensive overview of the H-1B registration system and guidance on what employers are expected to do as well as the workflow and anticipated timeline.

We would like to provide a recording of our webinar along with copies of the slides that were presented today: 

• Recording: https://app.box.com/s/jni46lyyav5nbpwajf6i1bseoafjtwpr
• Slides: https://app.box.com/s/jxny6knhcc1ew8blil2331mh8w79xn7q

We would also like to remind you of the information previously provided in our bulletin: https://app.box.com/s/ono6eoaomdgd4v0vn9oyhd7qq4w2u3z8.  This bulletin includes information about cut-off dates for initiating a case and rush fees. 

Please join us to learn more about the H-1B registration system and what you can do to prepare.

We will provide a comprehensive overview of the H-1B registration system and guidance on what employers are expected to do as well as the workflow and anticipated timeline.

For this year’s H-1B lottery registrations, the electronic registration period for participation in the lottery is March 1 through March 18, 2022. USCIS will notify employers of selection by March 31, 2022, and the H-1B petition filing window for selected registrants begins on April 1, 2022.

The webinar will be recorded, and the presentation materials will be made available for clients.
When: Feb. 25, 2022 11:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Please register in advance for this webinar: [link deleted]

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

It is time to start getting ready for the annual H-1B lottery registration period, which is expected to open sometime in March 2022.  (USCIS has not yet announced exact dates.) 

As a reminder, individuals who have never previously been in H-1B status will need to go through the lottery registration process.  This may include, for example, employees or candidates who are:

• Working with you pursuant to F-1 OPT/STEM OPT.
• Working with you pursuant to a dependent EAD based on their spouse’s nonimmigrant status
• Located outside the U.S.

We have prepared a bulletin providing a detailed overview of the process timeline, deadlines, and important things to know.  Please note that this bulletin will be updated as we receive more information from USCIS regarding exact dates.  (The link to the bulletin will remain the same as it gets updated.) 

Please review our bulletin closely as it contains important information.  Action items for you to be aware of at this time are: 

1. Please start collecting and providing the names and email addresses of potential candidates now.  We ask that you provide this information by February 1, 2022.  Due to anticipated volume, advance planning is critical.  
2. Please note that cases initiated on or after February 23, 2022 will be subject to additional surcharges.  Further details are listed in the bulletin linked above.   

If you have candidates who were not selected this year, or if you have provided the names of potential candidates to us throughout the past year, our office will follow up by mid-January. 

We anticipate reaching out to the bulk of H-1B lottery candidates throughout the months of January and February.  In the meantime, please feel free to provide any interested candidates with our flowchart overviewing the process.  The flowchart will be updated once we receive more information from USCIS regarding exact dates.

Thank you, and happy holidays!