Direct answer: The FY 2026 H-1B cap registration window ran March 7–24, 2025, for employment beginning October 1, 2025. Employers used USCIS’s electronic registration system to enter each candidate once under the beneficiary-centric rule, then had 90 days after selection to file the full petition. The core process below still holds, but the fee and selection method have since changed.

The FY 2026 H-1B Lottery: What Employers Needed to Know

For the FY 2026 cycle, the H-1B registration season was the first step for any employer looking to hire cap-subject international talent. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) opened H-1B lottery registration for the FY 2026 cap (for employment starting October 1, 2025) from March 7 through March 24, 2025. [Update, July 2026: These registration dates were for the FY 2026 H-1B cap cycle and have since passed. Employers should confirm the current cycle’s registration window and fee on the USCIS H-1B electronic registration page before relying on this timeline.]

Because the cap-subject H-1B is available only once a year, missing the registration window means waiting a full year for the next opportunity. Here is how the FY 2026 cycle worked, and—below—what has changed since.

Who Should You Register for the H-1B Lottery?

If you are considering sponsoring someone for a cap-subject H-1B, these are the typical candidates:

1. Current Employees on OPT or STEM OPT

• These individuals are already working for you under Optional Practical Training (OPT) or STEM OPT, meaning they have temporary work authorization after graduating from a U.S. college or university.
• Because F-1 practical training is time-limited, securing an H-1B is often the path to keeping them as long-term employees.

2. Candidates You’d Like to Hire

• If you have extended offers to skilled international candidates, they may need an H-1B to work for you in a specialty occupation.
• Registering early in the window keeps your options open for candidates you are still working to close.

The Beneficiary-Centric Selection Rule

Starting with the FY 2025 cap, USCIS moved to a beneficiary-centric registration system, and it remained in place for FY 2026. It was established by the final rule Improving the H-1B Registration Selection Process and Program Integrity (89 FR 7456, Feb. 2, 2024). Here is how it works:

• Each individual beneficiary is entered into the selection only once, no matter how many employers register them.
• If a beneficiary is selected, that person chooses which employer will file the H-1B petition—useful when someone holds multiple offers.
• This closed a prior loophole in which submitting multiple employer-sponsored registrations for the same person increased that person’s odds of selection.

This rule is still in effect today. What changed for later cycles is how the pool of unique beneficiaries is drawn from—see below.

What Does This Mean for Employers?

• If you register an employee and they are not selected through your registration, they may still have another route if a different employer’s registration for them is selected and they choose that employer.
• Before filing the actual H-1B petition, confirm the employee intends to accept your sponsorship—because they may have another employer option.

Understanding the FY 2026 Selection Process

For FY 2026, selection was a random draw from the pool of unique beneficiaries, following a structured timeline:

1. March 7–24, 2025: Employers registered beneficiaries electronically and paid the per-registration fee.
2. Late March / early April 2025: USCIS ran the first selection and notified registrants with selected beneficiaries.
3. 90-day filing window: Employers of selected beneficiaries had a 90-day window to file the full H-1B petition (Form I-129).
4. Additional selections (if needed):
   • If selected registrations did not translate into filed petitions, USCIS could run additional selections later in the year from the existing pool.

Important note on “pending” status: USCIS does not issue an immediate rejection for registrations that are not selected. Instead, unselected registrations remain in a “submitted” status through the fiscal year, in case USCIS conducts an additional selection.

Once a beneficiary is selected, the real work begins: the employer must file a complete Form I-129 establishing that the role is a genuine specialty occupation. That petition is where H-1B cases are most often tested—specialty-occupation and beneficiary-qualification challenges are among the most common Requests for Evidence. If you want to understand how adjudicators frame those challenges, our RFE Encyclopedia breaks down the common H-1B RFE grounds and the evidence that answers them.

What’s Changed Since FY 2026 (as of July 2026)

If you are planning a current H-1B cap filing, do not rely on the FY 2026 details above without accounting for three developments:

1. The registration fee is $215 per beneficiary

USCIS charges a $215 non-refundable fee for each beneficiary registered in the electronic system. This fee applied for the FY 2027 cap registration season and is confirmed on the USCIS H-1B Electronic Registration Process page. Confirm the current amount there before you register.

2. Selection is now weighted by wage level, not a pure random lottery

DHS finalized a weighted selection process for cap-subject H-1B registrations (Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions, published Dec. 29, 2025; effective Feb. 27, 2026). The unique-beneficiary pool remains, but registrations tied to higher DOL wage levels (Levels I–IV) are entered into the pool more times—so a higher-wage role has a proportionally greater chance of selection. This process was in place for the FY 2027 cap season. Details are on the Federal Register rule.

3. A $100,000 payment applies to many new H-1B petitions

A September 2025 presidential proclamation, Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers (published in the Federal Register Sept. 24, 2025), conditions entry for certain H-1B workers on a $100,000 payment accompanying the petition, for petitions filed on or after 12:01 a.m. EDT September 21, 2025. It does not apply to previously issued H-1B visas or to petitions filed before that time, and several categories—including many in-country change-of-status and extension filings—are treated as outside its scope. The proclamation was upheld by a federal district court in December 2025 and, absent an extension, is scheduled to expire twelve months after its effective date. Because the exemptions and the proclamation’s status are the subject of ongoing agency guidance and litigation, confirm current applicability on the USCIS proclamation alert and the Federal Register proclamation before filing.

Whether these changes help or hurt a given candidate depends on the wage level, the role, and the beneficiary’s current status. If you are weighing a cap filing under the current rules, that is exactly the kind of case-specific strategy worth talking through—see our H-1B practice page or book a consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the H-1B cap lottery still random?

Not purely. Selection still draws from a pool of unique beneficiaries, but under the DHS weighted selection rule effective February 27, 2026, registrations at higher DOL wage levels are entered into the pool more times, increasing their selection odds. The beneficiary-centric one-entry-per-person integrity rule remains in place on top of that weighting.

How much is the H-1B registration fee?

The electronic registration fee is $215 per beneficiary, per the USCIS H-1B Electronic Registration Process page. It is non-refundable and must be paid before a registration can be submitted. Confirm the current amount on USCIS before registering.

Does the $100,000 H-1B fee apply to lottery registrations?

The $100,000 figure comes from the September 2025 proclamation and attaches to certain H-1B petitions, not to the registration step itself. Whether it applies to a specific case turns on the beneficiary’s location and status and on evolving USCIS guidance and litigation, so confirm applicability on the official USCIS alert before filing.

About the Author

Loren Locke is the Managing Attorney of Locke Immigration Law and a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer who adjudicated approximately 12,000 visa applications at the U.S. Consulate in Mexico. She holds a J.D. from William & Mary Law School and a B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Richmond. Loren is regularly quoted on immigration policy by major publications including Newsweek, Condé Nast Traveler, and The Daily Mail, and specializes in EB-1A extraordinary ability petitions, O-1 visas, and National Interest Waivers.

Follow Loren on LinkedIn | Watch on YouTube | Book a consultation | hello@lockeimmigration.com

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