Selected in H-1B registration lottery? What next

Here is a step by step guide for those selected in the FY2024 season H-1B lottery

It’s the documentation full swing time for those aspiring to secure an H-1B visa for fiscal year 2024. Like each year, the H-1B season began with an enthusiastic number of applications submitted to the USCIS to be picked up in a lottery.

Beginning March 24, this year, the USCIS began sending email notifications regarding their selection in the first round of H-1B lottery. By March 27, everyone who got picked up in the lottery was intimated by the USCIS.

Read: USCIS receives enough initial H-1B registrations to reach cap (March 28, 2023)

An official press release issued by the USCIS late last month said that it had “notified all prospective petitioners with selected registrations that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for the beneficiary named in the applicable selected registration.”

The H-1B cap-subject petitions for FY 2024, including those petitions eligible for the advanced degree exemption, began to be filed with USCIS from April 1, 2023.

Who files the petition?

It may be noted that only the employers with selected H-1B registrations can file an H-1B petition for the selected applicant only.

Read: Silicon Valley lawmakers ask USCIS to ensure H-1B workers stay (April 13, 2023)

Employers are required to submit the physical forms for H-1B petition to USCIS along with the FY 2024 H-1B selection notice. It must be noted that there is no online filing option for H-1B petition.

The filing window

The filings need to be done within the 90 days filing window. The period this year started from April 1 and ends on June 30, 2023. The H-1B selection notice would also have details on the USCIS service center location for filing.

Read: H-1B Electronic Registration Process (March 27, 2023)

What to submit

It is important to know that the initial H-1B registration process is not an automatic H-1B petition approval. It is just a selection process and once the lottery is picked up then it’s time for the employer to submit all the proofs to establish the eligibility for H-1B visa.

This is crucial as the paperwork would go on to establish that the applicant is suited for the job position.