H-1B Registration Results Have Started Arriving

The H-1B visa 2023-2024 registration results have started trickling in! Employers should check their accounts to see if they were selected. You will also receive a Form I-797C, Notice of Action, where it says “Registration Selection” in the box labeled Notice Type. On the selection notice, it will tell you the date period your company is eligible to file a corresponding H-1B petition between and at which service center to do so.

According to Shilpa Malik, lead attorney at VisaNation, “Applicants have to file the petition by June 30th, hence within 90 days if selected in the first round.” There is the possibility for another round, however, last year there was only one round. By comparison, in 2021, there were 3 rounds conducted.

Another way to check if you were selected in the lottery is if UCIS deposited your H-1B application fee check. Petitions that are not selected have their fee refunded. For those who are nonimmigrant students and who applied under the advanced degree pool, then you can check your status by visiting the Student and Exchange Visitor Information (SEVIS) website. This site is kept very up-to-date as winners are selected.

What Your Status in the USCIS Portal Means

When logging into the USCIS case status tool, you will see a case number.

• Submitted: If you see the word submitted, it’s still being considered by USCIS, and you may see this up until the end of the fiscal year. Your case hasn’t been rejected or approved yet.
• Selected: You were selected in the lottery! Your sponsor needs to file the I-129 petition after April 1st, 2023. There may be staggered filing deadlines for individuals selected in the lottery to ease the registration process for USCIS. Your filing deadlines will be noted on your file, so be mindful of them.
• Not Selected: You were not chosen. This status will remain like this until the end of the fiscal year (October 1, 2023).
• Denied: You will see this if your sponsor sent USCIS more than one registration for the same beneficiary.
• Wait-Listed: If your petition was marked as “wait-listed,” it may replace an initially selected petition later found to be ineligible or denied. The USCIS has confirmed that it selects more petitions than are given in the cap in anticipation of some being withdrawn or rejected.

Be sure to include a copy of the selection notice along with your completed petition.

Can my company substitute the beneficiary named in the registration or transfer it to another petitioner? 

No, this is prohibited. Suppose you file an H – 1B cap-subject petition for a different beneficiary than the one identified in the selected registration notice submitted with the petition the H-1B cap-subject petition will be denied or rejected. Also, if you do not file in the filing period listed on your notice, USCIS will deny or reject it. You can see an example of an I-797C, Notice of Action, above.

See How to File the H-1B Cap-Subject Petition. 

How Many Registrations Will Be Selected?

Under the regular cap, 65,000 petitions will be selected in addition to 20,000 for the advanced degree exemption.

Can you guess what your odds of selection are under those numerical caps? If around the same number of petitions are submitted into the lottery this year as they were last year (For FY 2023, USCIS received 483,927 H-1B registrations), then you have about a 13% chance of selection if you have a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) from a U.S. or foreign college or university. If you have a graduate degree from a U.S. college or university, that number jumps up to 17.5%. Those submitted in this window have equal chances of selection in the lottery. This means that all petitions submitted within the given time frame were processed regardless of when in that time frame it was submitted. The obvious way to increase your chances of selection is to qualify for the master’s degree cap exemption.

Timeline and Next Steps Moving Forward: H-1B 2023-23 season

The soonest you can start working is October 1, 2023 if your fully completed petition is approved. We highly recommend using a qualified immigration attorney to ensure no mistakes impact your case and lead to a rejection or denial. If you were not selected in the H-1B lottery, you have other immigration options that may be suitable for you, including the O-1 visa, J-1 visa, L-1 visa, TN visa and more.