As reminded by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), during last year’s H-1B electronic registration period, the top two user errors were:
- Creating the wrong type of account; and
- Entering the same beneficiary more than once.
USCIS has recently shared a few tips to avoid these pitfalls.
- Make Sure You Create the Right Type of Account
There are three types of USCIS online accounts:
- Applicant/petitioner/requestor account – Individuals use this type of account to prepare and file applications, petitions or other benefit requests. You cannot use this account type to prepare or submit H-1B registrations.
- Attorney/representative account – If you are an attorney or accredited representative submitting H-1B registrations on behalf of a prospective petitioner, select this option. You will also be able to submit Form G-28, Notice of Entry of Appearance as Attorney or Accredited Representative.
Registrant account – This is the account that a prospective petitioner must create in order participate in the H-1B registration process, regardless of whether the prospective petitioner will be using an attorney or accredited representative to submit the registration.
- Avoid Duplicate Entries
A prospective petitioner may only have one registration submitted per beneficiary per fiscal year. Once the initial registration period has closed, if the prospective petitioner has more than one registration submitted for the same beneficiary, all registrations submitted for that beneficiary by that prospective petitioner will be removed from the selection process. This does not prevent other prospective petitioners or their representatives from submitting registrations for that same beneficiary, but they too need to ensure that each prospective petitioner only has one registration submitted for the beneficiary.
To avoid multiple entries, use the tool provided online to download a .csv file and search for duplicate entries. Also, USCIS recommends that attorneys and authorized individuals who work for the same company coordinate before submitting their registrations.
If you discover you or your representative submitted more than one registration for the same person and the initial registration period is still open (before noon Eastern on March 25, 2021), you can go into your account and delete the extra submission(s) until there is only one registration for the beneficiary. Please note that the $10 fee will not be refunded if you delete a duplicate registration.
If you discover that you or your representative submitted more than one registration for the same person and the initial registration period has closed (after noon Eastern on March 25, 2021), there is no way to correct this error. All registrations submitted for the beneficiary by, or on behalf of, that prospective petitioner will be removed from the selection process.
If you require any further information about the H1-B program or immigration law, please contact Angela Autier-Chanot, Inspire Business Law Group, PC (angela.autierchanot@inspirelawgroup.com; +212 810 9557, +33 1 80 49 38 70; www.inspirelawgroup.com).
This article is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, legal advice.
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