H-1B Lottery 2026: How the Wage-Weighted Selection Works

Congress limits new H-1B visas to 65,000 a year, plus 20,000 for people with a master's degree or higher from a US university. Every year far more employers want H-1B workers than there are visas, so USCIS runs a selection before accepting full petitions.

1. Registration. During a window in March, the employer creates an online USCIS organizational account and submits a short electronic registration for each worker, with basic details about the worker and the job, and pays the fee.
2. Selection. USCIS first selects enough registrations for the 65,000 regular cap from all registrations. It then selects for the 20,000 advanced degree cap from the remaining people with US master's or higher degrees. This order gives US advanced degree holders two chances.
3. Petition. Only employers whose registrations are selected may file a full H-1B petition (Form I-129) during the filing period that starts April 1.

Selection is by person, not by registration. If several employers register the same worker, that worker is entered once, and if selected, each of those employers can file a petition.

A DHS final rule published on December 29, 2025 took effect on February 27, 2026. It replaced the purely random draw with a weighted draw based on the Department of Labor wage level of the offered salary. The fiscal year (FY) 2027 lottery in March 2026 was the first to use it.

The wage level comes from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the job's occupation code and work location: the offered salary is matched to the highest level it meets or exceeds. If the job has more than one work location, the lowest level applies. If several employers register the same person, USCIS uses the lowest wage level among those registrations. The employer attests to the wage level, and USCIS can deny or revoke a petition if the registration information was false.

The practical effect is that a higher offered salary improves the odds, and entry-level offers have a lower chance than before. A higher wage level must reflect the real job and salary; inflating it is fraud.

USCIS opened FY2027 registration on March 4, 2026 and announced on March 31, 2026 that it had selected enough registrations to reach both the regular cap and the advanced degree cap. Filing opened April 1, 2026, and USCIS required the new edition of Form I-129 dated February 27, 2026.

Law firm summaries of USCIS data put FY2027 registrations at about 211,600, down roughly 38% from about 344,000 the year before. USCIS later said it received enough petitions to meet the cap, so no second selection round was needed. The next lottery, for FY2028, is expected in March 2027. USCIS announces exact dates a few weeks ahead on its H-1B page.

The $100,000 payment. A September 19, 2025 proclamation requires $100,000 for certain new H-1B petitions for workers outside the US. A federal court in Massachusetts vacated the policy on June 8, 2026, and the First Circuit refused to pause that ruling on July 24, 2026, so USCIS is not collecting it. A September 18, 2026 proclamation extended the policy to September 21, 2027, but it still is not being collected while the court order stands. Details: H-1B $100k fee status.

Employers can see the full cost picture in sponsoring an H-1B worker.

• Cap-exempt employers: universities and their affiliated nonprofits, nonprofit research organizations, and government research organizations can file at any time of year
• Current H-1B workers changing employers, extending, or adding a second job, if they were already counted against the cap
• People counted against the cap in the past 6 years who still have time left

Citizens of some countries have other options without a lottery: TN for Canadians and Mexicans, E-3 for Australians, and H-1B1 for Chileans and Singaporeans.

You can be registered again next year. In the meantime, consider:

• Staying in status as a student. F-1 graduates on OPT and STEM OPT may get up to three lottery attempts. Selected students can use the cap-gap extension.
• A cap-exempt job at a university or nonprofit research organization
• Other visas: O-1A for extraordinary ability, L-1A after a year with a multinational employer abroad, or the treaty visas listed above
• Other countries: Canada has programs that interest many H-1B candidates; see Canada's H-1B holder pathway

Compare options in H-1B vs O-1 and TN vs H-1B.