As the H-1B annual lottery is upon us and the government is busy implementing the new electronic registration system for the capped H-1B filings, proceed with caution. The USCIS’s database is now “live” for both attorney and employers’ account creation for subsequent lottery registration. Be sure to coordinate account creation with your immigration legal counsel in advance of March 1st lottery registration start. Importantly, USCIS is going to hold H-1B petitioners to their intentions to make the H-1B filings for all lottery winners and expects the data provided on registrations to be consistent with the subsequently filed petition proceedings. This means that all H-1B lottery entry data should be carefully vetted prior to registration submissions during the March 1st through March 20th registration period. Specifically, data pertaining to H-1B candidates’ education, passport data, job offers, and petitioners’ ability to pay the prevailing wage should be reviewed prior to registration submissions and credentials evaluations (when required) should be completed in advance as well. Crossing all “ts” in advance is particularly important in view of the uncertainty of the newly implemented government database and likely system “crashes” during the busy registration period. Asking (and answering!) H-1B petitions related questions ahead of time is the key to the timely and efficient registration process.