The H-1B cap registration period for FY2026 will be held from March 7, 2025, until March 24, 2025, according to an announcement from U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services.

During this period, U.S. employers may nominate current or prospective employees they wish to sponsor for H-1B status. After the registration period, USCIS will conduct an electronic lottery to select up to 85,000 registrations, and employers will then be able to submit an H-1B petition on behalf of each selected registrant. In advance of March 7, employers should consider which current or prospective employees might benefit from H-1B status. The next registration period is expected to be held in March 2026.

What is the H-1B cap?

The H-1B is a U.S. specialty occupation visa for positions that require at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in a particular field. H-1B visas are subject to a congressionally mandated quota (the “cap”), which limits availability to 20,000 visas for individuals with U.S. master’s degrees or higher and another 65,000 visas for individuals holding at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. (Universities and certain nonprofit or government research organizations are exempt from the cap and may file an H-1B petition at any time.)

Because demand for the H-1B has historically outstripped supply, the government conducts an electronic lottery each year to determine which individuals may be sponsored for an H-1B. Typically, the registration period is in March and cap-subject petitions may be filed between April and June. The earliest an employee may begin H-1B status is October 1—the start of the federal fiscal year.

Who might benefit from registration in the H-1B cap lottery?

The H-1B holds several benefits over other visa categories. The H-1B is a “dual intent” visa, meaning that visa holders are expressly permitted to pursue permanent residency (a green card) in the United States without restrictions on international travel. It normally has a six-year maximum but visa holders can extend their H-1B beyond that limit once certain milestones are met in the green card process. The H-1B is also open to foreign nationals regardless of nationality and does not require any prior experience with an employer abroad, as some other categories do.

Before the registration period opens, cap-subject employers should consider which current or prospective employees might benefit from H-1B status. Among others, this may include:

• Students working on time-limited F-1 visa programs like CPT, OPT, and STEM OPT;
• Individuals in other temporary visa categories like TN, O-1, E-2, or E-3, which can be subject to travel restrictions during the green card process;
• Individuals in L-1B status, which has a five-year maximum with no possibility of further extensions;
• L-1A visa holders born in countries with major green card backlogs, such as India and China; and
• Individuals with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), pending asylum applications, humanitarian parole, or in other circumstances.

Historically, registration has required the entry of only a few biographical data points for each registrant through a quick and efficient online process. For FY2025, the selection rate in the H‑1B cap lottery was approximately 28%.

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