What Does It Mean for your Employees Now that the H-1B Lottery Selection Process Completed?

By Marylou Fabbo - Skoler Abbott

April 4, 2023

The United States Citizen and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced that it has completed the lottery that determines who is eligible to petition for an H1B Visa. In order to see if your employee/potential employee was selected in this initial round for 2024, employers should sign into their online portal account.  The statuses next to the registration may be a bit confusing, so we will break it down for you in this blog.

•  Submitted: This means that the registration is still submitted and eligible for selection, but was not selected in the initial lottery. However, the registration remains pending, and the individual may be selected for future lotteries if multiple are held to reach the USCIS H1-B cap.  Although last year USCIS did not conduct a second lottery, it has done so in some years.  Keep your fingers crossed!

•  Selected: The employer may file an H-1B cap petition on behalf of the employee.  Employers must do this between April 1 and June 30, 2023.

•  Denied: If your registration was denied, it is likely that multiple registrations were submitted by the same registrant for the same beneficiary.  Submitting more than one registration results in an automatic denial.

•  Invalidated-Failed Payment: A registration was submitted but the payment method was declined, not reconciled, disputed, or otherwise invalid. If this is your status, you really messed up!

If  your employee was selected, you should get starting on gathering the information needed to file the petition.  There’s multiple steps, including the initial Labor Condition Application which must be approved before a petition can be submitted.  Further, filing cannot be done online, so the employer must file the old fashion way and mail it in.  (The petition must also include a printed copy of the individual’s selection notice for the H1-B 2024 lottery.)

If you’re working with an immigration lawyer through this complicated process, you should be all set.  If not, we recommend that you at least have a lawyer review what you plan to submit.  Generally, there are no second chances to get it right.

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