US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2026 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 7 and run through noon Eastern on March 24, 2025. During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary.
Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners or their representatives are required to use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $215 H-1B registration fee for each registration submitted on behalf of each beneficiary.
If you are an H-1B petitioning employer who does not have a USCIS online account, you will need to create an organizational account. If you are an H-1B petitioning employer who had an H-1B registrant account for the FY 2021 – FY 2024 H-1B registration seasons, but you did not use the account for FY 2025, your existing account will be converted to an organizational account after your next log in.
First-time registrants can create an account at any time. Representatives may add clients to their accounts at any time, but both representatives and registrants must wait until March 7 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $215 fee. Selections occur after the initial registration period closes, so there is no requirement to register on the day the initial registration period opens.
The FY 2026 H-1B cap will use the beneficiary-centric selection process launched in FY 2025. Under the beneficiary-centric process, registrations are selected by unique beneficiaries rather than by registration. If USCIS receives registrations for enough unique beneficiaries by March 24, they will randomly select unique beneficiaries and send selection notifications via users’ USCIS online accounts. If USCIS does not receive registrations for enough unique beneficiaries, all registrations for unique beneficiaries that were properly submitted in the initial registration period will be selected. USCIS intends to notify by March 31 prospective petitioners and representatives whose accounts have at least one registration selected.
The U.S. Department of Treasury has approved a temporary increase in the daily credit card transaction limit from $24,999.99 to $99,999.99 per day for the FY 2026 H-1B cap season. This temporary increase is in response to the volume of previous H-1B registrations that exceeded the daily credit card limit. Transactions more than $99,999.99 may be made via Automated Clearing House (ACH). Use of ACH may require the payor to alert their bank in advance to remove any potential ACH block on their account. We will provide additional information before the start of the initial H-1B registration period.
An H-1B cap-subject petition, including a petition for a beneficiary who is eligible for the advanced degree exemption, may only be filed by a petitioner whose registration for the beneficiary named in the H-1B petition was selected in the H-1B registration process.
Account Enhancements for FY 2026
For FY 2026, USCIS has made multiple enhancements for organizational and representative accounts for H-1B filing. These enhancements include:
The ability for paralegals to work with more than one legal representative. A paralegal will now be able to accept invitations from multiple legal representative accounts, allowing them to prepare H-1B registrations, Form I-129 H-1B petitions, and Form I-907 requests for premium processing for different attorneys, all within one paralegal account;
An easier way for legal representatives to add paralegals to company clients.
Pre-population of certain Form I-129 fields from selected H-1B registrations; and
The ability to prepare a spreadsheet of H-1B beneficiary data and upload the information to pre-populate data in H-1B registrations.
These enhancements will be live before the start of the initial registration period.
The H-1B nonimmigrant visa program permits temporary employment of foreign workers in specialty occupations, requiring specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s or higher degree. The Department of Homeland Security’s H-1B final rule and H-2 final rule took effect on Friday, January 17, 2025, modernizing and improving requirements for the H-1B nonimmigrant and H-2 nonimmigrant visa programs.

Sonu Nigam’s concert at Delhi Technological University was marred by chaos as audience members threw stones and bottles at the stage. Despite this, Nigam remained calm and urged the crowd to behave. Some of his team members were injured, but a fan’s gesture of throwing a hairband at Nigam brought a heartwarming moment.

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On December 2, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough petitions to meet the annual numerical allocation of 85,000 H-1B visas for fiscal year 2025 (FY 2025), which includes 65,000 regular and 20,000 U.S. advanced-degree cap petitions.
Over the next few days, USCIS will upload electronic nonselection notices for each unsuccessful entry to the myUSCIS account of employers or their representatives. When USCIS finishes sending these nonselection notifications, the status for properly submitted registrations that were not selected for the FY 2025 H-1B numerical allocations will show as Not Selected: Not selected — not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration. Registrants who are not selected in the lottery do not need to disclose the attempt in future immigration filings, including on Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. However, it is important for employers or their representatives to download and save nonselection notices for recordkeeping purposes, as the notices will become inaccessible if access to the myUSCIS account used for the registration is lost in the future.
The FY 2025 registration process was the first under USCIS’s new beneficiary-centric process in which registrations were selected by unique beneficiary rather than by registration. At the beginning of this year, USCIS announced a final rule to strengthen integrity and reduce the potential for fraud in the H-1B registration process, including by ensuring that each beneficiary would have the same chance of being selected, regardless of the number of registrations submitted on their behalf. The final rule created a beneficiary-centric selection process for registrations by employers, codified start-date flexibility for certain petitions subject to the congressionally mandated H-1B cap, and added more integrity measures related to the registration process. During the registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B cap, USCIS reported seeing a significant decrease in the total number of registrations submitted compared to FY 2024, including a decrease in the number of registrations submitted on behalf of beneficiaries with multiple registrations. Overall, USCIS saw an average of 1.06 registrations per beneficiary this year in FY 2025, compared to 1.70 for FY 2024.
For FY 2025, USCIS received 479,953 total registrations, 470,342 of which were eligible registrations. Of those 470,342 eligible registrations, 423,028 were for beneficiaries with no other eligible registrations and 47,314 were for beneficiaries with multiple eligible registrations. Ultimately, as total selected registrations numbered 135,137, this year’s selection rate was just under 29%.
As an important reminder, not all H-1B cases are subject to the cap lottery. Only for-profit (cap-subject) employers seeking to file new employment H-1B petitions or change-of-employer petitions from a cap-exempt entity (such as an institution of higher education) are required to submit registrations in the lottery process. The following H-1B petitions are not currently subject to the cap: (1) change of employer, extension and amendment petitions for individuals already working in H-1B status with a cap-subject employer; (2) petitions filed by institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations that are related to such institutions; and (3) petitions for J-1 physicians who receive a waiver of the two-year home residence requirements.
For additional information, register for Faegre Drinker’s Immigration and Global Mobility practice’s December 10, 2024, Business Immigration Series Webinar: It’s a Wrap! Update on Immigration Trends and What’s Ahead in 2025 After the Presidential Election, for a discussion about temporary work visas, permanent residence and compliance issues specific to business immigration.
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USCIS completes second round of H-1B lottery selection for FY 2025 regular cap  India Today
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H-1B visa cap for FY2025 for regular and master’s degree reached, says USCIS  India Today
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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has set the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2026 H-1B cap visas coveted by Indian techies, from noon ET on March 7 to noon ET on March 24.
The immigration agency announced Feb. 5 that it will continue to use the beneficiary-centric selection process launched in FY 2025 for FY 2026 H-1B cap. Under the beneficiary-centric process, registrations are selected by unique beneficiary rather than by registration.
READ: Donald and Melania Trump meme coins plunge post Inauguration Day (January 21, 2025)
USCIS said If it receives registrations for enough unique beneficiaries by March 24, it will conduct a lottery and send selection notifications via users’ USCIS online accounts. In case it does not receive enough registrations, all properly submitted registrations will be selected.
The agency said it intends to notify by March 31 prospective petitioners and representatives whose accounts have at least one registration selected.
In recent years, Indian professionals have cornered about three-fourths of the annual quota of 85,000 H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers, including 20,000 for those with advanced degrees from US institutions.
During the registration period, prospective petitioners and representatives must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated registration fee for each beneficiary, USCIS stated.
Prospective H-1B cap-subject petitioners or their representatives are required to use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $215 H-1B registration fee for each registration submitted on behalf of each beneficiary.
H-1B petitioning employers who don’t have a USCIS online account, will need to create an organizational account. Existing H-1B registrant accounts of employers with an account for the FY 2021 – FY 2024 H-1B registration seasons, who did not use the account for FY 2025, will be converted to an organizational account after their next log in.
First-time registrants can create an account at any time. Representatives may also add clients to their accounts at any time, but both representatives and registrants must wait until March 7 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration with the $215 fee.
As selections take place after the initial registration period closes, there is no requirement to register on the day the initial registration period opens, USCIS stated.
An H-1B cap-subject petition, including a petition for a beneficiary who is eligible for the advanced degree exemption, may only be filed by a petitioner whose registration for the beneficiary named in the H-1B petition was selected in the H-1B registration process.
READ: Trump acts fast to curb immigration, end diversity programs (January 21, 2025)
For FY 2026, USCIS has made multiple enhancements for organizational and representative accounts for H-1B filing, USCIS stated. These enhancements, which will be live before the start of the initial registration period, include:
Arun Kumar is an Editor-at-Large at The American Bazaar. He can be reached at editor@americanbazaaronline.com




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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will conduct its annual electronic registration process for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 H-1B cap from March 7, 2024 to March 24, 2025.
Employers seeking to register employees in the H-1B cap lottery will need to have an active myUCSIS account, if they do not already have one. We strongly recommend that all employers contact their counsel for assistance, if necessary, in setting up their online accounts. While the account establishment process is relatively simple, employers do need to take care to establish the correct type of account to submit registrations.
As in prior years, employers should start planning for cap registration now by identifying foreign nationals they intend to register for the H-1B cap lottery, and ensuring that they have a properly configured myUSCIS account that it linked to their immigration counsel’s account.
In completing the registration, employers must identify whether the intended beneficiary qualifies for the H-1B visa pursuant to either the advanced degree cap (reserved for individuals holding a U.S. master’s degree or higher in a field of study related to the offered position) or the standard H-1B cap (reserved for individuals holding a Bachelor’s degree or higher in a field of study related to the offered position).
Employers may register multiple individuals at once, using a single online “batch” submission.
Employers may only submit one registration per intended beneficiary in any fiscal year. If an employer registers an individual more than once in the same fiscal year, all registrations submitted by that employer for that individual will be invalidated.
The employer’s authorized legal representative may prepare and submit cap registrations for the employer.
Employers should work with legal counsel now to identify current or prospective employees who may require an H-1B petition to work in the U.S., and to take appropriate steps to ensure timely online registration of identified candidates.
Not All H-1B Petitions are Subject to the Cap
Certain individuals and employers are not subject to the annual H-1B cap or cap registration, including:
Cap-subject H-1B petitions generally fall within two categories:
“Standard” petitions. The minimum educational requirement for a standard H-1B petition is a Bachelor’s degree or professionally evaluated experience equivalent. Standard cases are capped at 65,000 visas annually with approximately 6,800 reserved for nationals of Chile and Singapore.
“Advanced degree” or “Master’s cap” petitions. The minimum educational requirement for an advanced degree H-1B petition is a Master’s degree or higher, awarded by a U.S. university. USCIS allocates an additional 20,000 H-1B visas for U.S. advanced degree holders each fiscal year.
As a reminder, employers will need to establish a registrant account with USCIS, which will need to be linked to an organizational account maintained by their counsel (presuming they are registering with the assistance of an attorney). Please contact immigration counsel now to ensure you are well-positioned for H-1B cap season.
Gibney will provide additional updates as they are announced. In the interim, additional information is available on the USCIS website here.  
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The 2025 H-1B cap registration period will begin at 12 p.m. Eastern time on March 7, 2025, and will conclude at 12 p.m. Eastern on March 24, 2025. Prospective petitioners are required to register each beneficiary online and pay a registration fee of $215. That fee is the one significant change from last year’s program, when the fee was $10.
Following the initial registration period, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will conduct a random selection of registrations and notify selected registrants through their online accounts by March 31, 2025. Selected registrants will receive a notification through their respective USCIS online accounts. Only those with selected registrations will be eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition, including petitions for advanced degree exemptions.
The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire international workers in specialized fields such as technology, engineering, and medicine. However, there is a statutory limit on the number of new H-1B visas that can be issued each fiscal year. The annual cap is 65,000 H1-B visas, with an additional 20,000 visas available for applicants who have earned a U.S. master’s degree or higher. The H-1B lottery system is in place due to the high demand for H-1B visas, which exceeds the annual cap set by the U.S. government. When the number of registrations exceeds the cap, USCIS conducts a random lottery to select which petitions will be processed. 
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The initial registration period for the fiscal year 2026 H-1B cap season will open on March 7 and close on March 24 according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations requiring a bachelor’s degree or higher.  
During this period, prospective petitioners and their representatives must register beneficiaries electronically using a USCIS online account and pay the $215 registration fee per beneficiary. First-time registrants can create an account at any time, while returning users with accounts from previous H-1B seasons may have their accounts converted to an organizational account upon their next login.  
Key changes for FY 2026 H-1B cap season  
Beneficiary-centric selection process: Launched in FY 2025, this method ensures each unique beneficiary has an equal chance of selection, regardless of the number of registrations submitted on their behalf. If enough unique beneficiaries register by March 24, USCIS will conduct a random selection and notify users through their USCIS online accounts by March 31.   
Increased daily credit card limit: The US Department of Treasury has temporarily increased the daily credit card transaction limit from $24,999.99 to $99,999.99 for H-1B payments. Transactions exceeding this amount must be made via Automated Clearing House (ACH), and payors may need to notify their bank in advance to remove any ACH blocks.   
New account features for legal representatives: Paralegals can now work with multiple legal representatives under the updated organizational and representative accounts, allowing them to prepare H-1B registrations and petitions for different attorneys within a single paralegal account.   
Fraud prevention measures   
On January 30, 2024, USCIS issued a final rule aimed at reducing fraud and ensuring fairness in the H-1B registration process. The rule ensures that each beneficiary has an equal chance of being selected, regardless of how many registrations have been submitted on their behalf.   
Only those whose registrations are selected will be eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition, including those qualifying for the advanced degree exemption. If USCIS does not receive enough unique registrations, all properly submitted registrations will be selected.   
With the March 7 opening date approaching, employers and applicants should ensure they have the necessary USCIS online accounts and payment methods ready for a smooth registration process.
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Foreign professionals eager to work in the U.S. now have their eyes on the 2026 H-1B visa season. The registration period opens on March 7, 2025, and closes by March 24, 2025. By then, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will have completed the random selection of beneficiaries.
For FY 2026, USCIS will continue using the beneficiary-centric selection process, introduced last year to curb the system’s gaming. Unlike the previous registration-based method, this system ensures each beneficiary is considered only once, regardless of the number of registrations filed on their behalf.
Key changes in the H-1B process
Registration period: March 7 to March 24, 2025
Registration fee: $215 per beneficiary
Selection process: Random selection of unique beneficiaries, rather than registrations
Notification deadline: USCIS plans to notify selected registrants by March 31, 2025
The shift to a beneficiary-centric approach has already cut registration numbers significantly. In FY 2025, USCIS received 470,342 eligible registrations—down 38.6% from FY 2024’s 758,994. The average registrations per beneficiary also fell from 1.70 (FY 2024) to 1.06 (FY 2025).
Step-by-step process for FY 2026
Employers register beneficiaries online via the USCIS portal.
USCIS selects unique beneficiaries using the new selection process.
Selected beneficiaries are notified through their USCIS accounts.
Selected beneficiaries submit H-1B cap-subject petitions to USCIS.
India continues to dominate H-1B landscape
The H-1B visa, designed for highly skilled workers, remains a popular route for Indian professionals. In FY 2023, 72.3% of all H-1B visas were issued to Indian workers. Additionally, India accounts for 28% of international student jobs in the U.S.
Under current regulations, 65,000 H-1B visas are issued annually under the general cap, while an additional 20,000 visas are reserved for those with advanced degrees from U.S. institutions.
Upcoming policy shifts under Trump?
With Donald Trump’s return to the White House, international students and skilled workers could face new visa restrictions. The Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which allows students to work temporarily after graduation, may see changes. The Trump administration is also expected to tighten H-1B rules and limit visas across multiple categories, including family green cards.
On the other hand, Trump has proposed a Gold Card initiative aimed at helping companies hire and retain top foreign talent from elite U.S. colleges.
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