The initial registration period for fiscal year 2023 H-1B cap visas will open on March 1 and run through March 18, US Citizenship and Immigration Services announced. Prospective petitioners and representatives will be able to complete and submit their registrations using the online H-1B registration system.

Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners or their representatives are required to use a myUSCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $10 H-1B registration fee for each registration submitted on behalf of each beneficiary. Registrants will be able to create new accounts beginning Feb. 21.

If USCIS receives enough registrations by March 18, the government will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications to registrants through myUSCIS online. USCIS will notify account holders concerning registration selection by March 31.

Employers should prepare for the registration period by collecting documents and information from potential H-1B employees, according to SHRM.

“We recommend that employers review upcoming hiring needs as soon as possible to determine if new H-1B petitions will need to be filed under the fiscal year 2023 quota for potential employment start dates of Oct. 1, 2022,” Melina LaMorticella, an attorney in the Portland, Oregon, office of Tonkon Torp, told SHRM. “All new H-1B petitions are subject to an annual quota, or cap, of 65,000 regular H-1B visas and an additional 20,000 H-1B visas reserved for holders of advanced degrees from accredited US universities. New cap H-1B petitions are not required for H-1B extensions and most H-1B changes of employer.”