H1B Registration Status Meaning, Explained Simply

The H-1B lottery runs through USCIS electronic registration. Your employer (or its attorney) registers you inside a USCIS organizational account, and after selection each registration shows a status. Because you usually see this status second-hand — relayed by HR or the attorney — it helps to know precisely what each term means so you can ask the right follow-up questions. Here is the full list, from most hopeful to most problematic.

Your registration is valid and paid, and it is waiting in the pool. This is the status every eligible registration starts with. The crucial point: if a selection round runs and does not pick you, your status stays Submitted — not Not Selected — because you remain eligible for any additional round in the same fiscal year. So “Submitted” is genuinely good news relative to “Not Selected.” See the second-lottery guide for why this matters.

You were chosen. Your employer may now file a full cap-subject H-1B petition (Form I-129) for you during the filing window. This is the milestone everyone is waiting for — but remember it is permission to file, not an approval. USCIS still reviews the petition and can approve it, issue an RFE, or deny it. Move to the selected next-steps checklist.

Your registration was not chosen after all selection rounds for the fiscal year. No cap-subject petition can be filed for you this year. This is common and is not a judgment of you or your employer. You keep your current status and have real options — see not selected: options.

This means the registration fee payment failed, so USCIS invalidated the registration. An invalidated registration cannot be selected. It is an administrative/payment problem, not a comment on your eligibility — but it does mean you are out for that cycle unless it is resolved appropriately. The employer or attorney should review exactly what happened with the payment and registration.