USCIS rides the digitization wave, organizational accounts and online filing introduced for H-1B visas

NEW DELHI: In a major development, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced a set of customer experience improvements for H-1B visa applications, significantly focusing on digitization. These enhancements include the introduction of ‘organizational accounts’ and the online filing of visa applications and premium processing requests.
For the upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap season, USCIS will launch organizational accounts for non-cap filings.These accounts will enable multiple individuals within an organization, including companies and business entities, and their legal representatives, to collaborate and prepare H-1B registrations. This step is aimed at increasing efficiency and simplifying the process for organizations and their legal representatives when filing Form I-129 (Application for a Non-immigrant Worker) and the associated Form I-907 (Request for Premium Processing).
USCIS Director Ur M Jaddou expressed enthusiasm about the advancements, stating, “USCIS is always striving to improve and streamline our processes, and this is a big step forward. Once we launch the organizational accounts and online filing of I-129 H-1B petitions, the entire H-1B lifecycle becomes fully electronic — from registration, if applicable, to our final decision and transmission to the Department of State.”

The immigration agency plans to introduce organizational accounts in February 2024, with the online filing of Forms I-129 and I-907 to follow soon after. This initiative is expected to streamline the Form I-129 H-1B petition process, reduce duplicate H-1B registrations, and minimize common errors.
Further, USCIS will move the paper filing location for Forms I-129 and I-907 from service centers to the USCIS lockbox. This change is part of the agency’s broader efforts to increase efficiency by standardizing processes and reducing costs.
Global immigration law firm Fragomen commented on the development, noting, “The organizational account changes will allow multiple individuals within an organization to collaborate on and prepare H-1B registrations and petition filings. This may also streamline the current complex registration ‘hand-off’ process between attorney and client, a pain point in the existing registration system.” Employers or their immigration counsel will be able to submit cap registrations through their organizational accounts. USCIS expects these changes to help in reducing potential duplicate H-1B registrations.
While online filing has been available for select USCIS forms for some time, the H-1B Form I-129 will be the first employment-based petition available for online filing. Petitioners will retain the option to file paper-based Forms I-129 and I-907 for their H-1B cases, according to Fragomen.
To facilitate the transition to these new systems, USCIS will hold informational sessions starting on January 23. These sessions are designed to educate stakeholders on the usage of the new digital platforms.