US Citizenship And Immigration Services Announces Wage-Based H-1B Cap Selection Process

On Jan. 8, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule, effective March 9, changing the way the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will select H-1B cap-subject registrations. Instead of using a random selection process, which it has done every year to date, USCIS will now rank and select registrations based on wages, selecting those with the highest wage first.

Employers will be required to register each prospective H-1B employee on the USCIS website and, for each registration, submit the salary, corresponding Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) wage level, and the area(s) of intended employment. When the registration window closes, USCIS will pool all registrations with wages in OES Level IV (the highest wage level) and make its selections. When those are exhausted, USCIS will proceed in descending order for registrations with OES wage Levels III, II and I, assuming there are numbers left.