USCIS uses the data collected on this
form to determine which employers will be informed that they may
submit a USCIS Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, for
H-1B classification.
On January 8, 2021,
after going through notice and comment rulemaking, the Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a final rule titled Modification
of Registration Requirement for Petitioners Seeking To File
Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions (“H-1B Selection Final Rule”). The rule
was scheduled to go into effect on March 9, 2021. On February 8,
2021, DHS issued a final rule delaying the effective date of the
H-1B Selection Final Rule to December 31, 2021. That rule also
delayed changes to the information collections associated with that
rule. On March 19, 2021, Plaintiffs in ongoing litigation moved to
file an amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of California adding the H-1B Selection Final
Rule to the list of challenged agency actions, which the court
granted leave to file on April 15, 2021. Following several months
of litigation, on September 15, 2021, the court vacated the H-1B
Selection Final Rule and remanded the matter to DHS. Following the
vacatur DHS and DOJ deliberated regarding the possibility of appeal
but ultimately decided against an appeal. DHS is moving to fully
comply with the court’s decision vacating the H-1B Selection Final
Rule. Therefore, since regulatory changes promulgated through the
H-1B Selection Final Rule are scheduled to be codified in the Code
of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 8 CFR 214.2 on the rule’s new
effective date, December 31, 2021, DHS is issuing a rule to
withdraw the vacated H-1B Selection Final Rule. The withdrawal rule
will have an immediate effective date. To prevent the information
collection changes associated with the H-1B Selection Final Rule
from going into effect on December 31, 2021, DHS is seeking
emergency processing to reverse the changes made by that rule in
order to fully comply with the court’s vacatur of the that
rule.
USCIS will not publish the
version of the H-1B Registration Tool that was approved by OMB in
connection with the Modification of Registration Requirement for
Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H–1B Petitions (RIN
1615-AC6; effective January 8, 2021; delayed to December 31, 2021).
The changes to the Tool made in support of that rule will not be
made effective as a result of the withdrawal of that final rule.
There is a decrease in the estimated annual hour burden to
respondents for this collection of information as the result of the
withdrawal rule, which decreases the estimated hour burden per
response from 0.8333 hours to 0.5 hours. There is no change in the
estimated annual cost burden to respondents for this collection of
information.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
RIN 1615-AC61- H1B Selection Rule Vacatur - PRA Emergency Memo_Final.pdf
H1B RegTool-012-Supporting Statement-H1BSelectWithdraw.docx
H-1B Registration Tool