On Wednesday September 4, 2019, USCIS published a proposed rule in the Federal Register that would require payment of a $10 fee from all petitioners filing a H-1B cap-subject petition. The rule would apply to each registration submitted for the selection process, and is expected to be applicable to 2021 fiscal year cap filings. The 30-day public comment period is now open, with comments due 10/4/19 via mail or the Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov.

The new fee, which was excluded from the original January 2019 final rule that introduced the new online registration requirement, is expected to result in a marginal increase in costs for selected selected petitioners, and a cost savings for both unselected petitioners and the government. This is one in a series of steps toward implementing the new electronic registration system for H-1B filing. Details remain to be released about the new process, which will be in place for the April 2020 H-1B filing season.

We will continue to monitor developments and share updates as more information becomes available. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your Graham Adair representative. For more frequent updates, please follow us on Twitter (@GrahamAdairLaw).