This Year’s H-1B Cap Lottery is Fast Approaching

With the H-1B lottery season for fiscal year 2026 fast approaching, below are some helpful facts to help you prepare and be fully ready to navigate the H-1B cap lottery process:

The H-1B Program:

Congress created the H-1B program in 1990, to allow U.S. employers to hire temporary foreign workers in specialty occupations. A specialty occupation requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of specialized knowledge and at least a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in the specific specialty. H-1B specialty occupations span across many fields including STEM occupations, business, and the arts. Foreign workers who have never had an H-1B work visa before are subject to what is called the H-1B cap lottery, also known as the H-1B cap registration process. This means they need to be registered and then randomly selected before their U.S. employer can submit an H-1B petition on their behalf. Congress allocates a total of 85,000 H-1B cap-subject visas each fiscal year. Out of these 85,000 visas, 65,000 visas are allocated to what is commonly known as the “regular cap,” designated for individuals who have a U.S. or foreign bachelor’s degree or a foreign master’s or higher degree. The remaining 20,000 visas are allocated for individuals who have earned a U.S. master’s degree or higher. It should be noted that up to 6,800 visas are set aside from the 65,000 each fiscal year for the H-1B1 program for citizens of Chile and Singapore, according to free trade agreements between the U.S. and these two countries. Unused visas in this group become available for H-1B use for the next fiscal year’s regular H-1B cap. Universities and related nonprofit entities, nonprofit research organizations, and government research organizations are exempt from the cap. This means they can file an H-1B anytime during the year without being subject to the cap’s numerical limit. Even private U.S. employers who have a direct connection with one of these institutions and who can prove that the foreign worker will be physically “placed at” one of these institutions for at least 50% of their time performing job duties, may qualify for the H-1B cap-exempt option.

How Does the H-1B Cap Registration Work?

U.S. employers planning on hiring foreign workers under the H-1B cap must first electronically submit a registration for each foreign employee for whom they wish to file an H-1B cap-subject petition. The registration period will start March 7th and will close on March 24th. Registration results will come out by March 31st. If the employee is selected in the lottery, the U.S. employer can then proceed to file the H-1B cap petition on their behalf. USCIS will assign filing periods within which the H-1B petition can be filed by the employer.

H-1B Registration Rule Announced by USCIS for the H-1B Cap Registration Process

Last year, USCIS implemented a beneficiary-centric system that will ensure that a U.S. employer (which for purposes of this system includes any of the employer’s U.S. subsidiaries and affiliates) submits only one H-1B registration per foreign worker. As such, part of the registration process, USCIS will require U.S. employers registering foreign workers to provide the foreign worker’s valid passport or valid travel document information. This passport or travel document information must be the same one the foreign worker will be using to enter the U.S. after traveling abroad. Each foreign worker must only be registered under one passport or travel document. According to USCIS, this new approach will reduce the potential for fraud in the H-1B registration process and keep employers from gaming the system. It will also afford each foreign worker the same chance of being selected, regardless of how many registrations are submitted on their behalf. In addition, USCIS will deny or revoke approved H-1B petitions where the beneficiary’s identifying information differs from the one used for the registration or where the registration or subsequent H-1B petition contain inaccurate or fraudulent statements or misrepresentations of a material fact. USCIS will also continue to revoke cap-subject H-1B petitions that were filed by related entities for the same foreign worker for substantially the same job, absent a legitimate business need to file multiple cap-subject petitions for the same foreign worker. The new rule turned into law the start date flexibility provision for certain petitions subject to the H-1B cap. This means that petitioners may request a start date of October 1st or later, provided there are no more than six months between the date the petition is filed and the requested start date. Finally, last year, and as part of its H-1B registration process overhaul, USCIS launched a new organizational account. This new organizational account feature allows multiple individuals within an organization and their legal representatives to collaborate on and prepare H-1B registrations and petitions.

• • The H-1B cap registration period will open on March 7th at noon Eastern.
• • The H-1B cap registration period will close on March 24th at noon Eastern.
• • Registrants will be notified on March 31st if they are selected in the lottery
• • The government may conduct a second or third lottery drawing in June and October as it has done for the past few years.
• • The H-1B cap petition filing window is expected to open on April 1st and will remain open for 90 days.
• • Foreign workers whose H-1B petition is approved will be able to move to H-1B status no earlier than October 1, 2025, the start of the government’s fiscal year 2026.

As always, Serotte Law is here to help you navigate the complexities of our immigration system and keep you fully updated on the ever-changing immigration policies and landscape. We are here whenever you need us. Reach out at h1bcapteam@serottelaw.com with any questions regarding the H-1B cap or any other immigration process.