On September 3, 2019, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposed rule requiring petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions to pay a $10 fee for each electronic registration they submit to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). DHS is proposing this registration fee in order to recover the costs USCIS will incur for implementing and maintaining the H-1B registration system.
On January 31, 2019, DHS published a final rule that requires petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap subject petitions to first electronically register with USCIS during a designated registration period. Although the H-1B cap electronic registration was suspended and not implemented for this year’s FY 2020 cap season, USCIS plans to roll out the new registration for the FY 2021 cap season.
Once USCIS implements the system and requires registration, an H-1B cap-subject petition will not be considered properly filed by USCIS unless the petitioner completes the electronic registration and pays the $10 fee.
The proposed rule for a registration fee is open to public comments from September 4 through October 4, 2019.
Please do not hesitate to contact our office if you have any further questions regarding this matter.