The much-awaited H1B season registration dates for fiscal year(FY) 2025 are announced in a press release by USCIS. They are also changing the H1B fees, introducing a new lottery process, and offering options to file an H1B petition online. This article will summarize the press release by USCIS and all the upcoming changes for the H1B Visa FY 2025 Season.
H1B FY 2025 Initial Registration Period Dates
USCIS announced the initial registration period for the H1B FY 2025 season. The H1B registration period is set to run for 16 days for this fiscal year. During these dates, employers can submit H1B Registrations for their applicants in the USCIS Online H1B Registration System.
Employers need to submit the Passport or Travel Document information of the applicant for whom they plan to submit an H1B registration. Below are the dates for FY 2025 season:
- H1B 2025 Registration Start Date: March 6th, 2024, Noon EST
- H1B 2025 Registration End Date: March 22nd, 2024, Noon EST
New H1B Lottery Selection Process for FY 2025 Season
USCIS published a final rule in federal register that changes the H1B Lottery selection process for FY 2025 season and for future years. As part of the new H1B Lottery selection process, USCIS will select H1B Lottery based on the applicant’s unique passport or travel document information.
Even if an applicant selects multiple H1B registrations as they have multiple offers, USCIS will use the applicant’s unique passport or travel document information to conduct the lottery. The applicant would be counted only once based on their passport or travel document info, even if they multiple H1B registrations. You can read full details at Summary of New H1B Lottery Selection Process for FY 2025
H1B Registration Filing Fee Unchanged
Even though USCIS has published a final rule that changes the fee for H1B Registration from $10 to $215, they are not able to implement the same for FY 2025 H1B registration period due to the effective date. The fee changes final rule effective date is April 1st, 2024, hence the new fee will not be applicable for FY 2025 season.
The H1B registration fee for FY 2025 season would be $10 per H1B Registration. It will change to $215 for H1B FY 2026 season and future years.
H1B Petition Filing Fee, Premium Processing Fee Changes
The H1B Petition filing Fee for the FY 2025 Season using Form I-129 is changing from $460 to $780. It will remain at $460 for small employers and non-profits.
Also, the Premium Processing fee is also changing to $2,805 for H1B applicants, if they plan to use that option. The premium processing fee was announced previously and is effective from Feb 26, 2024. Read more at USCIS Premium Processing Changes for 2024
Online Filing Option for H1B Petition, Premium Processing
After H1B lottery selection, employers file H1B petition with USCIS using form I-129. In the past, this was a paper-based filing process. Starting from FY 2025 season, USCIS announced that they are launching the Online Filing Option for Forms I-129 (used for H1B petition filing for non-immigrant worker) and Form I-907 ( used for requesting premium processing).
If employers are using paper-based filing, they need to use the new edition of Form I-129. It will be available on USCIS for preview with edition date 04/01/24 and will be available to file starting from April 1st, 2024. They will only accept new version of the form from April 1st, 2024.
Organizational Accounts for H1B Submissions
USCIS previously announced that they would be launching organization accounts in the USCIS online system that will allow multiple people in a company and the legal teams to collaborate and submit H1B registrations, H1B petitions or Premium Processing forms. Their goal with this new accounts is to help large companies collaborate better and submit various forms related to H1B program online with less hassle.
What do you think of the new changes to H1B FY 2025 Season? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Might get it this year!
Good decision by USCIS to filter out the bogus people. One of my friends said that last year he did 15 registrations for lottery.
Did he get select?
Yes. He got 5 applications selected and he chose one. He is a fake job hyderabadi..