2025 H1B online registration FAQs addressed after organisational account introduction, lottery changes and other updates

The H-1B cap season is on in the United States. Registrations for the fiscal year 2025 opened on March 6 and will close on the 22nd. The application procedure has changed significantly, and it's essential for you to go over the hard facts before jumping to reckless conclusions. Fortunately, USCIS has updated the long list of frequently asked questions in line with the heavy changes that came into effect with the February 28 switch-up to new organisational accounts.

The H1B program has helped US employers temporarily employ foreign workers in the technical line of occupations requiring highly specialised knowledge. These professions branch out to several fields like architecture, engineering, social sciences, medicine, education, mathematics, law, accounting, business specialities, arts and others. H-1B visa classification has an annual cap of 65,000 new visas each fiscal year.

2025 H1B Online Registration

Biden administration's proposed modernisation of the H-1B lottery registration has switched to a more beneficiary-centric process instead of random selection, limiting each employee to be chosen only once in each lottery. The freshly employed procedure requires registrants to provide valid passport and travel document information. The upcoming fiscal year's registration has retained the $10 fee, but the $215 hike will likely follow in March 2025.

Also read | FY 2025 H1B cap registration period details announced: Here's what you need to know

• First step for H-1B petitioning employers: Create a USCIS online account – Visit https://my.uscis.gov/
• H-1B petitioning employer with a registrant account from previous H-1B registration seasons: Once you log into your old account and initiate the process, it will migrate to a new organisation account (February 14 onwards). Complete migration may take several hours.
• Accredited representatives with a Legal Representative account: Once you log into your myUSCIS account to initiate the process, your old account will migrate to a new Legal Representative account (February 14 onwards). Complete migration may take several hours; accounts with large volumes of cases may even need more than a day for migration.
• Will the registrant be able to change the wrong account type when creating a USCIS online account? NO. Petitioners must choose the correct account type - Organisation or Legal Representative - while creating an online account. Only these two apply to the H-1B electronic registrations. If choosing the wrong account type, you must use a new email address to create a new USCIS online account and redo the process.

Also read | H-1B Registration: A guide to file your application process with recent updates

• If you wish to learn how filing an online form with USCIS works, the USCIS Tech Talks session will cover the online filing of Form I-129 and Form I-907. One of them regarding organisation accounts is scheduled for March 19, 2024. Other dates for the Tech Talks are March 21 and 26 and April 2 and 4. A webinar for Online Filing Engagement is also listed for Thursday, March 28, from 2-3 pm EST. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services 'File Online' page also introduces you to the process through an introductory video and full-length demo video that takes you through the filing process, addressing segments like how to pay or how to upload evidence.
• Are paper forms still valid? Can they be linked to the USCIS online account? Yes, the provision to file paper Form I-129 H-1B petition and any associated Form I-907 still stands. However, these paper-filed forms can't be linked to an online account at the moment. Additionally, filing locations for paper form petitions have been changed. New filing location addresses will be announced separately in March.
• Benefits of online-filed cases: Adjudication protocols for online/paper-filed cases are the same. Therefore, there will be no difference in the processing time. However, other time-saving features are fleshed out with online filing. While filing a form online, you will be able to send it faster to USCIS because the time needed for the US Postal Service or other delivery carriers would be eliminated. Similarly, your waiting time for the postal service to deliver a hard copy of the receipt would be gone, too. Moreover, a Request for Evidence (RFE) and Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) can be exchanged faster through the online account.