USCIS has during the February 24, 2022, webinar and via its website made an announcement regarding H-1B CAP FY 2023, USCIS has announced new attestation requirements for companies, to prevent them from filing frivolous H-1b registration, for the sole purpose of increasing the chances of applicants being picked under the lottery, by colluding with other companies or entities with the purpose of filing multiple registrations for a single applicant. The petitioner has to attest under penalty of perjury, that the registration (or these registrations) reflects a legitimate job offer, and that, the petitioner or the organization on whose behalf this registration (or these registrations) is being submitted, have not worked with, or agreed to work with, another registrant, petitioner, agent, or other individual or entity to submit a registration to unfairly increase chances of selection for the beneficiary or beneficiaries in this H-1B registration. In case USCIS finds such an action, they can prevent the companies from filing cases on the basis of an approved registration, if the case was filed, they can deny those H-1b cases and take further enforcement action.
There has been a lot of criticism on duplicate filings and there is also a Lawsuit pending on this matter. To counter this, USCIS has added this attestation. A beneficiary, however, can continue to file multiple registrations through multiple unrelated companies if there is no collusion between the companies to file duplicate registrations simply for the purposes of increasing the beneficiaries’ chances in the lottery.
What needs to be done to meet new guidelines?
When you submit your registration(s), you must attest, under penalty of perjury, that all of the information contained in the submission is complete, true, and correct. For FY 2023, the attestation that is required before submission will indicate, “I further certify that this registration (or these registrations) reflects a legitimate job offer and that I, or the organization on whose behalf this registration (or these registrations) is being submitted, have not worked with, or agreed to work with, another registrant, petitioner, agent, or other individual or entity to submit a registration to unfairly increase chances of selection for the beneficiary or beneficiaries in this submission.”
Penalty associated
If USCIS finds that this attestation was not true and correct (for example, that a company worked with another entity to submit multiple registrations for the same beneficiary to unfairly increase chances of selection for that beneficiary), USCIS will find that registration to not be properly submitted. Since the registration was not properly submitted, the prospective petitioner would not be eligible to file a petition based on that registration in accordance with the regulatory language at 8 CFR 214.2(h)(8)(iii)(A)(1). USCIS may deny or revoke a petition based on a registration that contained a false attestation and was therefore not properly submitted. Furthermore, USCIS may also refer the individual or entity who submitted a false attestation to appropriate federal law enforcement agencies for investigation and further action as appropriate.”
Reference: Published USCIS guidelines