US immigration: H-1B registrations for 2024 to begin from March 1, check other details

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Sunday released the dates of H-1B visa registration for 2024. The registration will start on March 1 and end on March 17, 2023. The immigration department said that petitioners and representatives will be able to finish and submit their registrations during this time using its online H-1B registration system - myUSCIS.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that enables American companies to hire foreign workers for specialized positions that call for theoretical or technical expertise. It is crucial to the hiring of thousands of workers from nations like China and India by technology companies every year.

Each registration submitted for the FY 2024 H-1B will receive a confirmation number and it is possible to track registration using the number, the immigration department said. "This number is used solely to track registrations; you cannot use this number to track your case status in Case Status Online," the agency said.

Each beneficiary must be registered using the account and $10 must be paid as the registration fee for each registration that is submitted on behalf of each beneficiary by all aspiring petitioners for H-1B visas or by their representatives.

"Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners or their representatives are required to use a myUSCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each registration submitted on behalf of each beneficiary," the department said in a statement.

US employers and agents who register as registrants use registrant accounts and can open new accounts starting on February 21. "Petitioners submitting their own registrations (U.S. employers and U.S. agents, collectively known as "registrants") will use a “registrant" account. Registrants will be able to create new accounts beginning at noon Eastern on Feb. 21," the agency added.

Representatives may add clients to their accounts at any time, but both representatives and registrants must wait until March 1 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $10 fee, the department said, adding that if it receives enough registrations by March 17, it will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications via users’ myUSCIS online accounts.

"(And) If we do not receive enough registrations, all registrations that were properly submitted in the initial registration period will be selected. We intend to notify account holders by March 31," it added.

For the FY 2024 H-1B cap season, the US Department of Treasury has approved a temporary increase in the daily credit card transaction limit from $24,999.99 to $39,999.99. "This temporary increase is in response to the volume of previous H-1B registrations that exceeded the daily credit card limit," it said.