Federal immigration officials announced Friday that the initial registration period for the upcoming 2024 H-1B cap will open at 12 pm EST on March 1, 2023, and close at 12 pm EST on March 17, 2023. Like past years, employers will have the opportunity to complete and submit their registrations using USCIS’s online H-1B registration system. What should employers know in advance of the upcoming registration period?

Same Fees

Earlier this month, USCIS proposed significant increases in filing fees for various employment-based petitions. Notably, the proposal included a substantial increase to the H-1B cap registration fee from $10 to $215. Based on Friday’s announcement, the increase will at least not affect this year’s H-1B cap registration.

What Are the Next Steps for Employers?

Employers should start reviewing their employee roster to see who they would like to register for this year’s H-1B cap registration. Employers who choose to submit their own registrations may set up “registrant” accounts starting at 12 pm EST on February 21 but must wait until March 1 to enter beneficiary information and submit the $10 registration fee. This can be accomplished on USCIS’s online registration portal.

Additionally, due to high volume of registrations, USCIS also announced that the U.S. Department of Treasury approved a temporary increase in daily credit card transaction limit from $24,999.99 to $39,999.99 per day for the FY 2024 H-1B cap season.

Similar to past years, if enough registrations are received by the closing date, USCIS will select registrations and send selection notifications via users’ myUSCIS online accounts by March 31. If USCIS does not receive enough registrations, all registrations that were properly submitted will be selected and be notified. Like past years, we expect this year’s registrations to exceed the 85,000 available slots.