The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the initial registration period for the coveted H1-B visas for FY2023 will run through March 1-18.
In a statement on Saturday, the USCIS said that during the above mentioned period "prospective petitioners and representatives will be able to complete and submit their registrations using our online H-1B registration system".
The USCIS will assign a confirmation number to each registration submitted which will be used solely to track registrations.
This number however, cannot be used to track the case status online, the statement said.
It further said that 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 required $10 registration fee.
"Prospective petitioners submitting their own registrations will use a 'registrant' account. Registrants will be able to create new accounts beginning at noon on February 21."
US employers and agents are collectively known as "registrants".
The USCIS said that once enough registrations are received by the March 18 deadline, there will be a random selection after which selection notifications will be via users' myUSCIS online accounts.
The H1-B visa allows companies and other employers in the US to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialised knowledge and a bachelor's degree or higher in the specific specialty, or its equivalent, according to the USCIS.
Every year the US gives 65,000 H1-B visas open to all and 20,000 to those with advanced US degrees.
Indians are the biggest beneficiaries of the H1-B visas getting about 75 per cent of them, according to the US government.