U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the initial H-1B registration period will start at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on March 7, 2025, and end at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on March 24, 2025. We recommend that employers start the H-1B registration process early, to ensure sufficient time for counsel to assess the case and identify any potential challenges to an H-1B filing, and to ensure that organizations filing for the first time have sufficient time to create their organization’s USCIS account.

Key Takeaways: 

• The initial H-1B registration period will start at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on March 7, 2025, and end at 9:00 AM Pacific Time on March 24, 2025.
• Most notably, H-1B registration fees have increased significantly this year and are now $215 per registration. Filing fees for the H-1B petitions filed on behalf of selected H-1B beneficiaries will remain the same as last year, $3,380 for employers with more than 25 employees, and $2,010 for employers with 25 or fewer employees.
• Employers and attorney representatives will be required to use the enhanced myUSCIS organizational account that was implemented last year and allows for better collaboration within organizational structures and with legal representatives.
• If you are an H-1B petitioning employer who had an H-1B registrant account for the FY 2021 – FY 2024 H-1B registration seasons, but you did not use the account for the H-1B cap registration in FY 2025, your existing account will be converted to an organizational account after your next log in.
• USCIS will again use a “beneficiary-centric” system instead of a “registration-centric” system in the selection process.
• USCIS will take 15 business days to process H-1B cap-subject petitions filed with premium processing.

What is the H-1B Lottery?
As background, there is an annual limit of 85,000 new H-1B visas per year, with 20,000 H-1B visas available to individuals who have a U.S. master’s degree, and the remaining 65,000 H-1B visas available to individuals with a bachelor’s degree (or equivalent work experience). USCIS conducts an H-1B lottery each year and, since 2020, USCIS has been using an electronic registration process, which requires employers to pre-register for the H-1B lottery and submit H-1B cap registrations during the month of March. The odds of selection greatly depend on the number of H-1B registrations that are submitted.

Will we use the enhanced organization myUSCIS account implemented last year?
USCIS will continue to use the enhanced accounts, which, employers and legal representatives will be able to electronically file H-1B petitions using the new myUSCIS organizational accounts. If you are an H-1B petitioning employer who had an H-1B registrant account for the FY 2021 – FY 2024 H-1B registration seasons, but you did not use the account for the H-1B cap registration in FY 2025, your existing account will be converted to an organizational account after your next log in.
will permit multiple people within an organization and their legal representatives to create organizational accounts to prepare and collaborate on H-1B registrations. In addition to H-1B registrations

Please contact the immigration attorneys at Ryan Swanson if your company is considering sponsoring any individuals for H-1B status under the annual quota this year. We recommend that employers initiate any H-1B cap-subject petitions right away, well in advance of the anticipated March 2025 registration period to ensure timely submission of the registration.