U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued two new rules in its continuing effort to make the H-1B visa selection process more efficient and less susceptible to fraud. One rule revamps the registration system for the H-1B specialty occupations visa program, and the other increases visa fees for the first time since 2016.
The first rule implements a new beneficiary-centric lottery proposed last October that is designed to give all H-1B beneficiaries an equal opportunity of being selected. This registration rule will go into effect March 4, just in time for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B lottery, which will run from March 6 to March 22, 2024.
The second rule finalizes fee increases proposed more than a year ago, but the registration fee for this year’s H-1B lottery will not go up because the new fee will not go into effect until April 1.
The two new rules follow H-1B process changes announced last month, including the launch of online organizational accounts through which multiple people within an organization and their legal representatives can collaborate on preparing H-1B registrations.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, can read more here.