Dates, Predictions, Application Deadlines, Results

Every year, tens of 1000’s of expert immigrants petition for the extremely sought-after H-1B visa. Since so many individuals petition annually, the USCIS positioned an annual restrict on the variety of H-1B visas issued and conducts an annual lottery to pick out the petitions that go onto processing randomly. We’ll discover your H-1B predictions, submitting suggestions, frequent errors, H-1B registration, and extra. Let’s get proper into our H-1B Lottery 2021-2022 predictions.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: USCIS has delayed the Trump administration’s January eighth H-1B Lottery Rule looking for to prioritize cap candidates in greater wage ranges till December 31, 2021. The Biden Administration nonetheless has to evaluate it totally, and his administration or the federal courts should still eradicate it.

The knowledge concerning the H-1B rule lined on this submit is present as of the publication’s date. We are going to preserve our purchasers posted with updates as they come up.  

H1B Lottery 2021–2022 Season: Predictions

The H-1B lottery season is without doubt one of the most anticipated intervals for immigration. Listed here are our H-1B predictions.

H1B Lottery Prediction I: Registrations Will Improve

Final yr noticed the brand new H-1B registration system launch that made it simpler for employers and candidates to participate within the lottery. There was apprehension with the brand new system, however it will definitely labored with out situation. With the registration system’s success and the growing hope of the pandemic ending, we predict H-1b registrations will improve for the 2021–2022 season. With the expected improve in registrations, we additionally predict that H-1b lottery odds for choice will lower.

H1B Lottery Prediction II: Likelihood for a Second Lottery

Final yr there was one other spherical of the lottery round August 2020, so there’s a probability for a second spherical this yr. The second spherical gave newly chosen employers from mid-August till mid-November to file petitions. We’ll clarify why we will see a second lottery taking place regardless that our H-1B predictions now embody a rise in registrations.

In the course of the H-1B lottery course of, the candidates chosen don’t mechanically get an H-1B visa. Getting chosen means they’ll now submit an H-1B petition. In the event that they don’t submit a petition on time, are denied, or don’t submit a petition in any respect, then they received’t get an H-1B visa.

Final yr, USCIS didn’t obtain sufficient petitions to fill the 85,000 H-1B quota and ran one other lottery. The second lottery didn’t permit for extra registrations. As an alternative, USCIS simply randomly picked from these candidates who already registered however weren’t initially chosen. This highlights the significance of submitting the registration on time and precisely since you by no means know when USCIS may run one other lottery for the season.

H1B Lottery Prediction III: Premium Processing May Not Be Obtainable

One factor that’s up within the air is whether or not premium processing will likely be out there this season. Final yr premium processing was not out there initially, however later it was. The premium processing payment has additionally elevated considerably to $2,500. Keep tuned to our web page for updates on premium processing because the implementation modifications usually and shortly.

H1B Lottery Prediction IV: Prevailing Wage Rule Delayed

This one is much less a prediction and extra of a actuality. Nonetheless, earlier than the Biden Administration’s choice, we had predicted that the Trump Administration’s late issuing of the Prevailing Wage Rule could be delayed for at the very least the subsequent season or not carried out in any respect.

The Biden Administration nonetheless has to totally evaluate and make choices on most of the guidelines that the Trump Administration introduced ahead earlier than his time period in workplace was over.  The Prevailing Wage Rule would prioritize candidates in greater wage ranges (give choice to international professionals that earn a substantial wage).  It is very important know that this rule has in the meanwhile been postponed till December 31, 2020, so it received’t be a part of the 2021–2022 H-1B season. The rule additionally has potential blocks from the Biden Administration and the courts, so we’ll see if it’s ever carried out.

H-1B Lottery Prediction V: Extra H1B Interviews

The H-1B interview was one thing that was on the discretion of USCIS officers. We anticipate these interviews to grow to be extra frequent this season and in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later perhaps even obligatory.

The right way to Put together for H1B Visa 2021-22 Lottery

Since USCIS begins accepting registrations for the H-1B visa 2021 lottery on March ninth, you’d profit vastly by starting preparations. The very first thing chances are you’ll wish to do is safe a professional H-1B visa lawyer. The explanation for that is fourfold.

Firstly, it would be best to be sure that your registration is correctly filed. Which means that it accurately falls into both the common or grasp’s cap. If a registration is incorrectly submitted into the grasp’s cap and is chosen, it is going to be subsequently denied throughout processing. As a result of the foundations surrounding admission into the grasp’s cap will be difficult, it’s finest to have assist.

Secondly, employers wish to keep away from submitting a number of registrations for a similar beneficiary, both purposefully or by accident. Doing so will invalidate all registrations for that beneficiary and trigger employers to lose their possibilities of having her or him get hold of an H-1B visa this yr.

Third, as soon as a registration is chosen, the case has solely simply begun. With denials and RFEs are on the rise, it is very important have an knowledgeable in your nook when the USCIS is processing your H-1B petition.

H1B Registration System

The web H-1B registration portal permits employers to submit one registration per beneficiary they’re sponsoring. You’ll be able to create an internet account with USCIS right here. On March ninth at 12 p.m. EST, the registration portal opens. Registration includes submitting the beneficiary’s info together with a non-refundable $10 payment, which is far easier and cheaper than submitting an H-1B petition. The beneficiary mustn’t pay the $10 payment.

On March twenty fifth at 12 p.m. EST, the H-1B registration submission window will shut, and no extra registrations will likely be accepted. USCIS will then conduct the random lottery from the submitted petitions and choose 65,000 from the common cap and 20,000 from the grasp’s cap as in earlier years. As a part of the Free Commerce Settlement, 6,800 visas are additionally put aside for Chile and Singapore residents. On or earlier than March thirty first, the registrations may have their statuses modified to mirror the winners. These chosen will nonetheless have to file petitions and have them permitted to acquire an H-1B visa. In the event that they choose your petition, the soonest you could file your full H-1B packet is April 1, 2021. Remember to learn our full information on the H-1B visa discover out extra.

H1B Visa Submission Coverage

It’s crucial to comply with all of the submission guidelines to make sure the best possibilities of approval.

• All H-1B registrations should be submitted after 12 p.m. EST on March 9, 2021 12 and earlier than 12 p.m. EST on March 25, 2021. If you happen to submit your petition outdoors of this window, USCIS will situation a denial.
• Employers can submit just one registration per sponsor for every beneficiary. If a sponsor submits multiple for a similar international employee, then all of the beneficiary’s registrations will likely be marked invalid and denied. One sponsor is allowed to submit multiple registration for a number of workers, and one beneficiary can have a number of registrations submitted by a number of workers.

Paperwork and particulars required for all registrations:

• Employer’s title,  FEIN (identification quantity), handle, contact info, and employer’s lawyer’s contact info
• Beneficiary’s title, birthdate, residence nation, the place they keep citizenship, passport quantity, and gender
• USCIS additionally wants the beneficiary’s academic info

What’s Subsequent? Steps & Actions

In case your H-1B registration is chosen within the lottery, then your sponsor might want to file an I-129 petition in your behalf. This petition should embody the required submitting charges as outlined above and any supporting documentation to bolster your eligibility for the H-1B.

Subsequent, the officer will look at your case and decide whether or not you qualify for the H-1B. In case your H-1B petition fails this stage, it might be denied, requiring extra intensive work to repair. If it passes, then USCIS will notify you, and it is possible for you to to begin engaged on October 1, 2021.

Understanding Your H1B Standing

Within the on-line portal, there will likely be one in every of 4 statuses indicated subsequent to your case. They’re defined under:

• Chosen: If you happen to see the phrase chosen as your standing, then meaning USCIS has chosen your H-1B petition within the lottery, and your sponsor is now in a position to file an I-129. Remember that they might be staggered submitting deadlines to totally different registrants to ease the circulation of processing.
• Submitted: This standing means you could have efficiently submitted your petition. It doesn’t imply you could have been chosen but, and it could actually have this standing till as late as the tip of the fiscal yr. All registrations that haven’t been denied will both learn chosen or submitted subsequent to their standing.
• Not Chosen: The lottery didn’t choose your registration. It’s going to learn this standing till Oct. 1, 2021.
• Denied: If a sponsor submits multiple registration for a similar beneficiary, then USCIS will mechanically mark all petitions from this sponsor as denied.

After the sponsoring employer is notified that their H-1B registration has been chosen, then it’s time to file the whole H-1B petition with all accompanying proof. We advocate you do that alongside a professional lawyer to make sure all fields and paperwork are correctly included. Candidates ought to ship your complete packet of data to the service middle. As soon as they obtain it, you’ll be issued a 13-digit USCIS case quantity.

Questioning what the numbers imply? The primary three letters are the service middle processing your H-1B petition. For instance, if the Nebraska Service Middle is dealing with your case, then the primary three letters will likely be LIN. If the Texas Service Middle is dealing with your case, then the letters will likely be SRC.  EAC signifies the Vermont service middle. The final middle is WAC for the California Service Middle. The following numbers are the yr, adopted by the day, after which the case quantity is the final 5 digits. An instance quantity would appear like SRC-15-021-93822.

Masters Versus Common H-B Cap

You may be questioning what the distinction is between the grasp’s superior diploma cap and the common cap. To qualify for the grasp’s cap, the applicant will need to have a United States grasp’s diploma or greater.

Observe that solely having an affiliate’s diploma or bachelor’s won’t make you eligible. Likewise, for those who’ve obtained a grasp’s diploma from a international or unaccredited institute, this won’t qualify you for the cap. You need to keep up-to-date with the newest information about your establishment to make sure that it’s nonetheless accredited.

The benefit of being entered into the grasp’s cap is that you’ll basically have two separate alternatives to be chosen for a visa.

The present ordering system for the grasp’s and the common cap has been reversed. Quite than having the grasp’s cap be carried out first, the common cap will likely be carried out first to extend the proportion of grasp’s registrations chosen.

The best way this occurs has to do with chance. When the common cap is performed, all registrations will likely be concerned, together with the grasp’s registrations. Which means that, inevitably, some grasp’s registrations will likely be chosen within the common cap. Then, when the grasp’s cap is performed afterward, there will likely be fewer grasp’s registrations within the competitors since some have already been chosen within the common cap. This vastly will increase the possibilities of a single grasp’s registration being chosen. As soon as we all know the entire variety of H-1B petitions submitted, we’ll have the ability to decide your actual lottery chance of being chosen.

H1B Visa 2021-2022 Charges

Every H-1B registration would require the cost of a $10 registration payment that won’t be refunded if the registration shouldn’t be chosen within the lottery. This makes getting into the lottery cheap and straightforward, and it additionally removes the necessity for USCIS to course of and return the petitions and costs to the sponsors of those that weren’t chosen.

Nevertheless, if the registration is chosen, then Type I-129 will must be subsequently filed, and the next H-1B visa charges will must be included:

Our lawyer charges are as follows:

• Tier One: $550 for the preliminary H-1B registration course of, which incorporates all preliminary case analyses required to file the case reminiscent of SOC, duties, paperwork, academic examine, evaluations, if crucial, FEIN, and many others.
• Tier Two: $1,900 will likely be due if the case is chosen within the lottery for submitting, which incorporates all kind/assist letter preparation plus case submitting inside the timeframe
• Tier Three: $500–$1,500 will likely be the price of a Request For Proof (RFE) response, ought to one later be issued on the case

Please observe that H-1B petitioners have the choice to finish the preliminary registration themselves. Once more, observe that if the registration is accomplished incorrectly, the petition might later be denied. As soon as the petition has been confirmed as being chosen within the lottery, employers might select to retain our agency for the whole submitting.  If that route is chosen as an alternative, the authorized payment for making ready the H-1b submitting will likely be $2300. This payment excludes the fee for a response to any potential RFE that USCIS might situation on the case and any H-4 utility which may be required.  The payment for an RFE response will stay between $500–$1600, relying upon the complexity of the RFE.

H-1B Lottery 2021-2022 Submitting Suggestions

Check out these useful suggestions for submitting your petition accurately and maximizing your possibilities of choice.

1. Timing is Key

The H-1B is exclusive in that there are particular dates that you need to respect to qualify. Pay attention to the next essential dates for the lottery system:

March ninth: Sponsors can submit H-1B registrations for his or her beneficiaries by means of their accounts at 12 p.m. Japanese Time.

March twenty fifth: The USCIS will cease accepting registrations at 12 p.m. Japanese Time.

March thirty first: The USCIS will change the standing of the submitted registrations to mirror the lottery outcomes.

April 1st: That is the earliest date that H1B cap-subject petition could also be filed.

April 1st – June thirtieth: Submitting window for circumstances chosen

October 1st: The beneficiaries of permitted H-1B petitions can start to work as H-1B workers.

2. File with A number of Employers

If one employer submits a number of registrations for a similar worker, USICS will reject them. Nevertheless, the worker can have a number of registrations submitted by totally different employers. Doing this could vastly improve your possibilities of being chosen within the lottery. Additionally, one employer can submit registrations for a number of workers, so long as there is just one registration per worker.

3. Half-Time Work

The H-1B visa shouldn’t be restricted to full-time staff. If you happen to solely work part-time, this visa possibility could also be for you.

3. Keep away from Frequent Errors

To make sure that your H-1B petition has the perfect probability of being permitted, keep away from these frequent pitfalls that are inclined to end in rejections:

• If the employer’s FEIN for an LCA shouldn’t be acknowledged within the USCIS iCert system, then a pre-verification should happen. This could delay your petition approval by a number of days.
• Triple examine the service middle that will likely be receiving your petition. Sending it to the flawed middle can severely delay approval.
• Remember to use an permitted supply technique to submit your petition. USPS, FedEx, and UPS are all bonded supply providers that can be utilized.
• Work together with your immigration lawyer to be sure that your job description is totally described in your petition.
• In case your payment funds have been mixed into one single examine, chances are you’ll expertise delays in processing. Remember to write separate checks for every cost.
• Ensure that your I-129 begin date is appropriate and doesn’t include any errors or typos.
• Many individuals make a mistake in pondering that buying premium processing will safe them a spot within the lottery or in any other case improve their possibilities. This isn’t true. This characteristic solely causes your I-129 to be processed in 15 days and doesn’t change your employment begin date.
• Ensure that the employer pays all obligatory charges. Ought to the USCIS study that the worker paid these charges after the visa has been issued, there’s a chance the H-1B may very well be revoked.

4. Take into account Alternate options to the H1B Visa

If you happen to and your immigration lawyer conclude that you don’t qualify for the H-1B visa or an alternative choice would serve you higher, listed below are some options.

• If you’re a Canadian or Mexican citizen, the TN visa could also be a greater possibility. This visa class has a restricted listing of certified occupations however presents simpler utility processes and limitless renewals.
• The J-1 visa permits folks from varied occupations to take part in a program that may sponsor them. These embody, however usually are not restricted to, college students, medical doctors, nannies, camp counselors, and professors.
• Underneath the L-1 visa, an employer can have executives, managers, or specialty workers from an workplace outdoors the U.S. to at least one inside its borders. This can be a great way to begin a brand new department or subsidiary within the U.S.
• The O-1 visa permits folks with extraordinary achievements of their area to work within the U.S. for a interval of as much as three years.

H-1B Visa to Inexperienced Card

The method of going from an H-1B visa to a inexperienced card ought to stay the identical for the 2021 season. If you’re not conscious of tips on how to make this adjustment, listed below are the fundamental steps:

• Determine which inexperienced card works finest on your state of affairs
• Have your employer get hold of a PERM Labor Certification for you (until you might be making use of for the EB-1 or EB-2 NIW)
• Have that sponsoring employer file an I-140 petition in your behalf
• Wait till your petition has been permitted and your precedence date is present
• File an I-485 to regulate your standing to authorized everlasting resident

Although there aren’t any modifications to this course of for 2021, it might be clever to regulate the USCIS information web site or this weblog to see any info that may influence your inexperienced card case. Extra H-1B predictions could also be revealed within the coming months because the season will get underway.

H-1B Lottery 2021 Predictions: FAQ

If I file for a beneficiary within the grasp’s cap below the belief that they’ll have earned their qualifying diploma by that point, however they fail to take action, and my registration has been chosen, then what occurs?

If the beneficiary fails to earn their qualifying grasp’s diploma or greater when the H-1B petition is filed, then the petition will likely be denied or rejected.

“If a registration is submitted requesting consideration below the INA 214(g)(5)(C) superior diploma exemption as a result of the beneficiary has earned, or will earn previous to the submitting of the petition, a grasp’s or greater diploma from a U.S. establishment of upper training, and the registration is chosen below the superior diploma exemption, the beneficiary should be eligible for the superior diploma exemption on the time of submitting the I-129 petition.”

Can I attraction my H-1B registration that was marked as an invalid duplicate?

If USCIS deems your H-1B registration as duplicates, they are going to be marked as invalid and you can not attraction to it. For that reason and lots of extra, it’s extremely suggested to file with the assistance of a professional H-1B lawyer.

How can I keep up to date on the H-1B modifications?

One of the simplest ways to remain up to date is to subscribe to our month-to-month e-newsletter.

How will I do know if My H-1B Registration Has Been Chosen?

On March thirty first, logging onto your USCIS on-line portal ought to present that the standing of your H-1B registration has modified, although it might even have stayed the identical.

What’s a Request for Proof (RFE)?

A Request for Proof is when USCIS wants extra info to resolve on whether or not to approve it or deny it. It’s important to answer the RFE inside the specified time window. There are 3 ways you and your lawyer can reply to at least one.

The primary strategy is a full response. Because the title implies, you submit all of the requested proof to USCIS alongside together with your response.

The second strategy is a partial response, and these are typically the commonest. With this response, you solely submit a few of the proof USCIS requests both as a result of it might be higher on your case to not submit all of it otherwise you wouldn’t have entry to the proof they’re asking for.

The third strategy isn’t any response. You and your authorized counsel ought to all the time talk about the perfect strategy to answer RFEs collectively.

Is there a grace interval if I lose my H1B job?

If you happen to lose your job below H-1B standing, you might be granted a 60-day grace interval that begins on the day that your H1B sponsored employer not employs you. You’ll be able to both discover a new sponsor, change your immigration standing, or depart the US utterly on this time-frame.

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