H-1B cap filing season, already a high-stress time of year for sponsoring companies (and their immigration counsel), will likely bring major changes impacting businesses that rely on the visa program to hire skilled and educated foreign nationals. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the government agency that oversees the H-1B program, recently announced plans to change this year's H-1B lottery process by requiring employers to electronically pre-register candidates ahead of the H-1B filing period, which begins April 1, 2020. Employers will also pay a new $10 fee per registered candidate. As the registration system is still pending release (and no anticipated release date has been circulated), many employers, attorneys and related stakeholders are bracing for updates.

By way of background, the H-1B visa program allows employers to petition for highly educated foreign nationals to work in specialty occupations, an employment category closely associated with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, but not limited to them. The number of H-1B visas available each year is capped at 65,000, with 20,000 additional visas for those with a U.S. master's degree or doctorate. Each year, the number of petitions subject to this cap (some organizations are exempt) far exceeds the number available, and USCIS uses a random lottery selection process to determine which cases it will adjudicate.

Traditionally, employers seeking to hire H-1B workers file a complete petition packet—including forms, supporting materials and filing fees—on the first day of the H-1B filing period (on or around April 1) in order to have their petitions considered in the H-1B lottery. The new registration rule will change that process significantly. It will require employers to pre-register electronically each of the cap-subject H-1B employees they wish to sponsor during a 14-day registration period. If one or more of an employer's registered petitions are selected in the lottery, the employer will then be notified and asked to file a full petition with supporting documents during a designated 90-day filing period.