USCIS has announced its 2020 H-1B application process, which opens with a new “registration” step at noon on March 1.   All H-1B applicants, including those with an advanced degree, must be registered through this process, which will collect only summary information on employer and beneficiary through an on-line system.  Employers and their representatives must establish dedicated electronic accounts with USCIS to participate.  The cost is $10 per registration, although up to 250 can be submitted at a time.  Duplicate submissions on behalf of any individual will void registration for that individual.

The registration period will be open until March 20.  After it closes, a random selection process will mark each electronic submission “selected,” “submitted” or in cases where there was a duplication “denied.”  The “Submitted” registrations will remain unprocessed to allow for less-than expected-demand.  The result will be visible to employers and their representatives via their on-line accounts.

An employer whose registration is “selected” may then file a full H-1B case on behalf of the selected beneficiary.  The case and the evidence must still go through normal scrutiny; as the USCIS notes, “Registration selection does not guarantee an H-1B visa.”  But it is required, and registration opens in just a few weeks.   Don’t let it pass you or your employer by.