00:00U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services is launching
00:03organizational online accounts
in February 2024.
00:07Organizational accounts will
allow petitioning companies and
00:10their staff to collaborate
online with a company group on
00:13H-1B registrations, Form I-129
petitions, and Form I-907,
00:19Requests for Premium Processing.
This also includes online
00:22collaboration between legal
representatives (attorneys and
00:26(accredited representatives) and
their company clients by
00:28allowing shared access to draft
Forms I-129s, I-907s, and G-28s.
00:35Also, for the first time, we
will allow paralegals shared
00:38access to certain features of
our online organizational
00:41account when invited by their
supervising attorney. With
00:45these enhancements, we have made
the H-1B registration process
00:48and petition lifecycle fully
electronic. This is one of many
00:52steps USCIS is taking to
increase efficiency and
00:55transform how the public
interacts with USCIS in the
00:58online environment.
This video
focuses on the legal
01:01representative experience and is
intended to help legal
01:04representatives maximize the new
opportunities to collaborate
01:08online, both with their own
legal teams and with company
01:11clients. The screens shown in
the video may not exactly match
01:15the words and layout you will
see in your online account
01:18because we continue to make
adjustments to the account based
01:20on public feedback. But the
steps we review are the same as
01:24those you will follow when using
your own online account. We
01:27appreciate your patience as we
continually work to improve your
01:30user experience. You can find a
similar video for Company
01:33Accounts posted on the USCIS
YouTube channel.
One of the
01:37new features enabled by
organizational accounts is the
01:40option to auto-populate the Form
G-28 from the data you have
01:44entered in your online account
profile.
Another new
01:47feature is that through your
organizational account, you are
01:50now able to create a legal team,
consisting of you and one or
01:54more paralegals, that can
collaborate in drafting forms
01:57online. This feature is
currently only available for
02:00H-1B registrations, and H-1B
Forms I-129 and I-907.
We will
02:06now show you how you and your
team will be able to work with
02:08your company clients.
Before doing anything else, it
02:11is essential that you meet with
each of your company clients and
02:14decide which of you will create
the Company Group. You can
02:17avoid time consuming mistakes by
taking this first step to
02:20establish roles and set
expectations for each person who
02:23will be invited to work in the
collaborative space.
There are
02:26two ways that a Company Group
can be created. In one, the
02:30legal representative sets up the
Company Group and invites a
02:33Company Administrator to
complete the creation of the
02:36account and add group members.
In the other, the Company
02:39Administrator creates the
Company Group and invites the
02:42legal representative into the
collaborative space. We will go
02:45over both.
In our first
example you are the Legal
02:48Representative, and your client,
Fast Bikes, wants you to handle
02:52creating the Company Group for
them. They told you Ali Smith
02:55will be the Company
Administrator.
From your
02:58representative account home
page, you will begin by going to
03:00the My Clients tab in your
representative online account.
03:04You will see a tab for
“Individuals” and one for
03:07“Companies.” Above that is the
prompt to “Add a Client.”
You
03:10will see a reminder of the
difference between an individual
03:13client and a company client.
For the H-1B registration and
03:17filings, you will select
“Company.”
Additional reminders
03:20describe the roles and
permissions given to company
03:23administrators and members. An
additional reminder lets you
03:26know that if you create this
Company Group and one already
03:29exists for the client – in this
example, Fast Bikes – we will
03:33send a notification to the Fast
Bikes Company Administrator that
03:36indicates you would like to
collaborate with them. We would
03:38not create a new Company Group.
You already had a meeting with
03:42Fast Bikes and you both agreed
that you, as their legal
03:45representative, will create the
Company Group. You can select
03:48“Continue.”
You will be
prompted to fill in information
03:51about the company, including the
company name, the company tax ID
03:55number or other identifying
number, and the company address.
03:59The next screen will ask you to
complete the Company
04:01Administrator Profile. You will
enter the name, email address,
04:05and phone number of the
individual who will be serving
04:07as the Company Administrator, in
this case Ali Smith. Once you
04:11complete the information you
will be able to select “Create
04:14Company Group.”
You will be
taken back to your My Clients
04:17page where you will see an alert
letting you know that you
04:19successfully added a company
client. You can view the
04:22invitation you just sent to Ali
by going to “Companies,” then
04:25“Manage Invitations.” The
expiration date you see in this
04:28example is for demonstration
purposes only. The date you see
04:32will be seven calendar days from
when you sent the invitation.
04:36Over at Fast Bikes, Ali Smith
has received the invitation that
04:39you sent. To continue, Ali will
either sign-in to their existing
04:43USCIS online account or create a
new one.
Ali can review the
04:47information that you entered and
confirm that it is correct. They
04:50will acknowledge the Company
Profile and their Administrator
04:53Profile. Ali Smith will then
accept the invitation. If the
04:57information is not correct, Ali
can exit this invitation without
05:00accepting it, and let it expire.
Currently, there is no way to
05:04withdraw, delete, or decline an
invitation. However, as the
05:09legal representative, you can
send a new invitation to Ali
05:12before this current one expires.
This information is correct, so
05:16Ali accepts the invitation.
In
Ali Smith’s “My Company”
05:19account, Ali can now go to the
My Representatives tab and see
05:23you, the Fast Bikes’ legal
representative, and your legal
05:26team.
Fast Bikes also will
now appear in your
05:29representative account, in the
“My Clients” tab. You and your
05:33team can now initiate filings
for Fast Bikes and create drafts
05:36that Ali, as company
administrator, can review. Keep
05:40in mind that you, as a Legal
Representative, cannot access
05:43draft forms started by your
company clients in their
05:46organizational account.
This
is a critical point. You, as a
05:50Legal Representative, can only
access forms that you draft.
05:53This means if your company
client starts a H-1B
05:56registration or a draft Form
I-129 in the organizational
06:00account, you will not have
access to it. Given this
06:03requirement, you should discuss
your approach with your company
06:05client before you start working
on forms for them.
Let’s take a
06:09look now at the other way you
can collaborate with a Company
06:12Group – and that is when the
Company Administrator creates
06:15their Company Group and invites
you, the legal representative,
06:18to work with them.
You have
another client, River City
06:21Imports. It is a very large
company, and they handle other
06:25immigration filings that you
won’t be working on. They
06:27already have a Company Group and
they are going to invite you and
06:31your team to collaborate.
The
Company Administrator at River
06:34City Imports will go to their
“My Representatives” tab and
06:37select “Invite a
Representative.” They will
06:40enter your name and email
address and select “Send
06:43Invitation.”
As you can see,
the invitation has been sent and
06:46it will expire in seven calendar
days.
You will receive an
06:50email letting you know that you
have been invited to collaborate
06:53with River City Imports’ online
USCIS Company Group.
On your
06:57online account homepage, in the
“My Clients” tab, go to
07:00“Companies.” Select “Manage
Invitations,” where you will see
07:04the pending invitation from
River City Imports. You can
07:07click on “View Invitation” to
proceed.
After you review and
07:10acknowledge the information, you
can accept the invitation.
07:14Now River City Imports will
appear in your Companies tab
07:17under “My Clients” on your
toolbar.
You are ready to
07:20work on filings for both Fast
Bikes and River City Imports.
07:24Let’s walk through how to add
paralegals to your Legal Team.
07:27You can create your Legal Team,
as well as add or delete
07:30members, at any time.
Paralegals will only be able to
07:33create a USCIS online account if
they have an invitation from a
07:37legal representative.
At the
top of the tool bar go to “My
07:40Team.”
You will see the prompt
to invite a paralegal, as well
07:43as a space where you can manage
users and invitations.
Select
07:54“Invite a Paralegal.”
Text
will appear informing you of the
07:58paralegal’s role and
permissions. In this instance,
08:01you want to add your paralegal,
Ray Rios. You will fill out the
08:04name and email address, then
select “Send Request.”
You
08:05will be taken back to your My
Team page, where you will see a
08:06green alert letting you know
that you have successfully
08:07invited a paralegal. Select
“Manage Invitations,” and you
08:10can see the invitation pending
with the expiration date in
08:13seven calendar days.
Ray will
receive your invitation in the
08:16email provided and be prompted
to create an online account. Ray
08:20will go through the steps to
create a USCIS online account.
08:24There are instructions on how to
set up an online account in a
08:26companion video if you would
like to share them with your
08:29staff.
Ray will then review
the invitation as we just saw in
08:32the last couple of examples, and
if it is correct, Ray will
08:36select “Accept Invitation.”
A
banner will appear to let Ray
08:39know that he is now able to
collaborate with you and the
08:42other paralegals on your team,
as well as view case status, and
08:45create, edit, and delete drafts
of forms.
As a reminder,
08:50while you can be the only legal
representative on your team,
08:53there is no limit to how many
paralegals can be added.
08:56However, please note that
paralegals can be part of only
09:00one Legal Team at a time. They
cannot be part of your Legal
09:03Team and another
representative’s Legal Team,
09:06even you both work in the same
law firm or legal organization.
09:09I’d like to show you how a draft
Form I-129 can be managed. In
09:14this example, Ray is going to
initiate the draft and fill it
09:17out. But first, you have to
give Ray permission to work with
09:20a specific client.
In “My
Clients,” under “Companies,” you
09:24will see next to Fast Bikes a
link to “View Company.”
On
09:27the following page, there is a
link to “Add Paralegal.” In
09:30this case we want to add Ray, so
go ahead and select “Add
09:34Paralegal.”
Right now, Ray is
the only paralegal on your team.
09:38If there were others, their
names would appear here and you
09:41can include them all, or just
one. For now, we’ll pick Ray
09:45and select “Add Paralegal.” You
can add or delete others later.
09:49Ray now appears on your team in
the Fast Bikes client page.
09:52This is Ray’s home page, and he
can see that Fast Bikes now
09:55appears in the “My Clients”
list.
When Ray selects “File
09:59a Form,” he will be able to
select Fast Bikes as the client,
10:02then another drop down will
appear and Ray will be able to
10:05select the form type, in this
case Form I-129.
The Form
10:09I-129 is quite long, so for this
demonstration we will advance to
10:13where Ray is now reviewing the
work. If satisfied, Ray can
10:17select “Finish and Continue.”
Ray then notifies you, the legal
10:21representative on the team, that
the form is ready for review.
10:25In Ray’s table of drafts, he can
see all the forms that have been
10:28drafted by the Legal Team and
their status.
The draft will
10:32appear on your “My Cases” page.
You can see it labelled “Pending
10:36representative signature”.
To
review the form, select
10:39“Continue Form I-129.” You can
edit the form if it is needed.
10:43Then select “Next.”
After
you select “Finish and
10:49Continue,” you will then review
the Form G-28 instructions, as
10:53well as Privacy and other
notices.
You now have the
10:56option to auto-populate the Form
G-28 from the data you entered
10:59in your online account. If you
choose this option, you will
11:02scroll through to confirm the
auto-populated information.
11:05When everything has been
confirmed, you select “Submit
11:08the G-28.”
After you submit the
G-28, you can notify Ali Smith
11:13at Fast Bikes that the Form
I-129 is ready for review and
11:17signature. You can notify
multiple Company Administrators
11:21if the Company Group has more
than one. Choose who you wish to
11:24notify, and then select “Notify
Administrator.”
You can now see
11:28in your “My Cases” tab that you
successfully sent the
11:31notification, and that the draft
form is pending the
11:34company/petitioner’s signature.
The Company Administrator can
11:37then review the drafts, accept
them or suggest changes, and
11:41sign the forms. Once signed, you
can submit the form and the fee
11:45payment.
This has been a
basic overview to help you adapt
11:48to the new enhancements. There
are other details that are
11:51important in this process that
we go over in a presentation
11:54that is posted in the electronic
reading room, so be sure to view
11:57that material when you have
time. Thank you.
