U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has officially announced the FY2026 H-1B Cap Registration dates. Below is a summary of some information that you should know:
- This year’s initial registration period for the H-1B cap lottery will be from noon Eastern Time on March 7 to noon Eastern Time on March 24, 2025.
- Caution: H-1B Cap Registration ends at noon on March 24, not at the close of business nor at midnight.
- No registrations may be submitted on behalf of beneficiaries until March 7.
- Beware that registering multiple times for the same beneficiary can result in disqualification.
- The registration filing fee is now $215 per registration.
- USCIS will assign a confirmation number to each registration for tracking registrations.
- If USCIS receives enough registrations by March 24, the agency will randomly select registrations and send selection notifications to registrants through users’ myUSCIS accounts to indicate which petitions may be filed (i.e., which registrants “won the lottery”).
- In the unlikely event that USCIS doesn’t receive enough registrations to fill the cap by March 24, all properly submitted registrations will be selected.
- As in past years, USCIS intends to notify account holders by March 31.
- An employer may only file a cap-subject H-1B petition based on a selected registration and for the beneficiary listed in the selected registration.
- To facilitate the FY 2026 H-1B cap season registration process, the U.S. Treasury Department approved a temporary increase in the daily credit card transaction limit to $99,999.99 in response to high demand in prior registrations that exceeded the daily limit.
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