Check Your Inbox For H1B Selection Results

In the latest H-1B visa news, USCIS has begun sending some H1-B selection results to lottery registrants for the FY 2022 Cap Season. Our office has already received many of these selection notices, and we anticipate more to come in the days ahead. If you were selected in the H-1B lottery, USCIS will notify your employer or lawyer who submitted your registration.

Important: Fully-completed H-1B visa petitions need to include a copy of the Registration Selection notice and must be filed at the USCIS service center indicated on the Registration Selection notice.

H1B Selection Results Next Steps

After being notified of a selection notice, the next step is to download the PDF in your selection notice and read the details, including which USCIS service center your full petition should be filed at. Employers have until June 30, 2021, to file their complete H-1B petition and submit it to USCIS. Should the petition not be submitted by the deadline indicated on the Registration Selection notice, USCIS will void the entire petition. An H-1B selection will be awarded to a different registrant in line with the lottery waitlist.

Only the employers named on the selection notice can file the complete H-1B petition for the employee named. Fraud is not taken lightly, and it is not wise to try and complete a petition for an employee not originally on the lottery registration.

Note: Our office has been notified by AILA that some registrations submitted days before the lottery registration closed were shown as “in progress” in the H-1B registration portal. Some members also reported that “in progress” registrations seemingly disappeared from the portal. USCIS was made aware of the technical issue, and it has now been fixed. 

File a Fully-Prepared H1B Petition As Soon As Possible

If you were selected in the FY 2022 H-1B lottery, it’s highly advised to complete a fully prepared petition as quickly as possible. The window to file opens on April 1 and closes on June 30. If you wait too long, you won’t be able to re-file, but re-file is possible if it’s rejected within the window.

We may see many Requests for Evidence (RFE) again this year, similarly to last year, as well as added probing on the part of USCIS. One of the biggest things to keep in mind is that any entry-level position—categorized as Wage Level 1—needs to be in line with the Stand Occupational Classification (SOC) category and the job description. USCIS will not accept some entry-level jobs in certain SOC categories to meet the specialty job occupation criteria. Another key factor USCIS will be carefully scrutinizing is the employer-employee relationship, which includes middle vendors. It’s best to consult your case attorney for the best chances of an H-1B approval with the appropriate documentation. If you are unsure how to handle the next steps with your H1B selection results, our team can be of assistance as well.