As many of you know the H1B Visa 2022 season started earlier this month with the H1B Registration Process starting on March 9th, 2021 until March 25th, 2021. Starting from March 27th, 2021, we have many users sharing that they have been selected in H1B Registration lottery in our social media groups and one of them (anonymous for privacy) was kind enough to share their H1B Registration Selection Notice and the submission details as well. Thanks a lot to our user who shared this with us for community benefit. We will review all of these details in this article.
If you are looking for H1B FY 2023 sample notice and lottery details, H1B 2023 Lottery Results are out, you can check all details with samples at H1B Visa 2023 Lottery Results Out – Sample Notice
H1B 2022 Lottery Results are out – USCIS Official Press Release
Starting from March 27th, 2021, we have seen many users who applied for H1B registration in the fiscal year 2022 season report that they are selected in the H1B lottery. It was shared all across our social media community platforms.
On March 30th, 2021, USCIS released an Official press note that said initial H1B registration selection process is complete for FY 2022 Season. See below screenshot. They have not given out details on the total count of numbers or anything as such. They only said that lottery is done, and all employers are informed. You can check Summary of USCIS News – H1B 2022 Registration Lottery Results Out for complete information. We need to wait and see for the total registrations count and premium processing details.
There are two stages for H1B registration selection process, one is registration submission and second is H1B Lottery. First let’s look sample of how the Registration submission confirmation looks like.
Sample H1B 2022 Registration Submission Confirmation
After the Employer submits the H1B Registration, there is an option for them to print the confirmation with details. Below is the sample H1B Registration submission confirmation that employer can print out and share it with the applicant. Not many companies share this, and they may only share a screenshot. But, if they do share, it will look like below. You can ask your employer to share the submission confirmation details that look like below, if they have not shared yet.
H1B 2022 Registration Lottery Selection Results
H1B 2022 Registration Lottery results are out since March 27th, 2021. While, we do not have official press release from USCIS, it is confirmed by many users in social media groups. Some of them shared sample selection notices as well. We will review sample notice details in next section.
Firstly, if the applicant is selected in H1B Registration lottery, the online status changes in the registration system and shows as “Selected” next to the H1B registration as shown in below screenshot. Only the employer or attorney would get a notification of the same that the applicant they submitted for was selected in the H1B registration.
The employer need to login to the USCIS H1B registration system to view the H1B registration Selection notice. They can view the same by clicking on the “View Notice” and it has all the details regarding the H1B selection like where they need to file, when they need to file, etc. Let’s look at that below.
Sample H1B 2022 Registration Selection Notice from USCIS
The H1B Registration Selection Notice will be a I-797C Notice of Action, that is similar to any other like H4 Visa I-797C Receipt Notice. It would be of Case Type “H-1BR – H1B REGISTRATION”. Below is the sample H1B Registration Selection Notice for FY 2022 Season that was shared by one of users whose details were submitted for this year H1B registration selection process. Let us look at the meaning of all fields and details on the selection notice below.
Meaning of various fields on H1B FY 2022 Registration Selection Notice
- Beneficiary Confirmation Number : This confirmation number is the long number that would have been generated when the H1B Registration was submitted by your employer or attorney. It cannot be used to check your registration status on USCIS website. It is only used for Internal tracking and lottery purposes. For FY 2022 season, it usually starts with 2022 as in below screenshot.
- Case Type : This indicates the case type of the form. In the H1B registration case, it will be “H-1BR – H1B REGISTRATION”
- Received Date : This is the date when your employer or sponsor submitted the H1B registration online in the registration system. For the below notice, it is March 25, 2021, which is the date when the employer submitted the same.
- Priority Date : This will be blank as it is not applicable.
- Prospective Petitioner : This will be the employer name or the company name that is sponsoring your H1B visa petition for the applicant.
- Notice Date : This is the date when the employer or sponsor was notified regarding the H1B Registration Selection. For the below sample notice, it is March 27, 2021. It can be anywhere from 3/27/2020 to 3/31/2020
- Page : You will see 1 of 2 on first page. There are two pages in the registration notice.
- Beneficiary : This is the actual H1B Applicant or Employee for whom the H1B visa petition has to be submitted to USCIS.
- Company Name and Mailing Address : Below these fields, you will see a box with Company Name and address of the Company
- Notice Type : It will say “Registration Selection”. It will be same on the official copy and the courtesy notice.
Under the boxes, it will say Fiscal Year 2022 Selection and has below information.
- Company ID, Name : You will see the details telling that Company XYZ with Employer ID number ABC submitted a registration for XXX ( Date of Birth XXX) and it was selected for FY 2022 H1B cap, …It will have conformation number 2022-…
- Filing Dates – It will indicate the filing dates for H1B Petition from 4/1/2021 to 6/30/2021 and tell the location to file H1B
- Service Centre Details : This is the service centre that you need file H1B petition in the dates given above. They indicate that you need to submit a copy of this notice as well along with the petition. It is important to file it at the same location listed in the registration notice. For the below sample, it is Texas Service Center.
- Validity of the Registration : It clearly would tell that the registration for h1B is valid for FY 2022 season and for XYZ company. It will also have applicant name XXX with the passport and date of birth of the applicant in it. It will also tell that you cannot substitute the registration for other or transfer the registration to others. It will tell that they may reject the petition if not properly filed.
Below is the actual H1B Selection notice for Fiscal Year 2022. Page 1 has most of the information that is important.
Page 2 of the Registration selection notice with information for people with disabilities.
You may also watch the below YouTube Video that cover the summary of the article
Comparison with H1B Selection Notice from FY 2021
This year’s H1B FY 2022 selection notice looks pretty similar to the H1B Visa 2021 Selection Notice Sample. There is one extra piece of text that is added at the bottom. It reads like below.
“Ensure that any information provided during the electronic registration process matches the information provided on the petition. If any information does not match, you should provide an explanation with your petition and supporting documentation as to why there was a change or why the information does not match. If the information on the registration and petition does not match, USCIS may reject or deny the petition.”
Let’s look at some commonly asked questions now.
H1B Visa 2022 Tracker
H1B Visa filing process with registrations and petitions can be lengthy and many unknowns with timelines. We used to maintain a simple tracker and it was not feature rich. To help the community and get better features, we have partnered with VisaGrader.com to build an Anonymous H1B Visa Tracker for FY 2022. You can add your case information anonymously and see the overall patterns, processing times, etc. with crowdsourced data. Add anonymously using below button
Common FAQs
No, only your employer can check that using their login info online on USCIS website. Read more at H1B Registration Vs Petition – Check Status Online ?
If you have not heard anything in first round by end of the day March 31st, 2021, then you are very likely not selected in first round. Your registration would be held in a pool and maybe used for Second round lottery, if next round happens. We do not know, if there will be a second round…Last year, they had second round.
No one knows this for sure on how the process of notifications work for H1B registrations selected in FY 2022 lottery. Based on experience from previous year, we have seen that some users got their H1B registration selection notification on March 31st as well. So, you need to wait until March 31st to be sure, if you were not selected in Lottery or not. Check with your employer or attorney.
That is something USCIS gives to each beneficiary for tracking. It cannot be verified online, it is only used by USCIS for internal purposes to run the lottery selection.
No one knows at this point, if there will be second round lottery. The concept of H1B registration was introduced last year and we only had second round lottery once and that too it was in August of 2020.
Also, one of the reasons they had second round lottery was because many employers with selected registrations did not file H1B petition for the same due to bad economy with COVID situation and job losses. This year, it may be slightly different as H1B employers clearly know the hiring needs and would file the H1B petition if the lottery is selected for the submission. So, we cannot take it for granted that there will be second round lottery for sure this year as well. We need to wait and see for USCIS guidance on this.
No, you do not get OPT cap gap extension automatically with H1B selection Notice. You need to file the H1B petition before your OPT expires to get the OPT Cap gap extension. Talk to your employer and file the petition before expiration to avoid issues and continue working.
No, it is an electronic Notice that is generated online. Your employer can get it by downloading it online from the selected status location. You need click on “View Notice” to download the same.
As of March 30th, 2021, USCIS has not released any official numbers on the total H1B Visa 2022 Registrations count. The press release from USCIS on March 30th, only talks about completion of the selection process, but does not give any numbers. As of now, you can check H1B Visa 2022 Lottery Predictions to get idea on the total number we may expect based on past history, economy, analysis of various factors. We need to wait for USCIS data.
If you were lucky and selected, you might wonder next steps, you can read Steps after H1B Registration Lottery ? Flow Chart – Process
What do you think of the Selection Results, What do you expect the number is going to be ?
