Employers: Start Preparing for the Fiscal Year 2026 H-1B Filing Season

Each January, US Citizenship and Immigration Services releases dates for the H-1B cap registration processes, with registration typically opening in early March. While awaiting USCIS’s announcement detailing this year’s timelines and procedures, employers should review the immigration status of their current and potential foreign national employees, identifying any individuals for whom H-1B status might be beneficial, and noting USCIS’s registration fee increase from $10 to $215 per beneficiary.

Individuals who may benefit from being in H-1B status include the following:

• Recent college and university graduates employed in F-1 optional training status
• Candidates abroad who are subject to the annual H-1B cap
• Candidates in another nonimmigrant status (e.g., L-1B) who are approaching the maximum limit of their status and would benefit from a change of status to H-1B
• Candidates currently employed pursuant to an H-4 employment authorization document (EAD) who wish to become independent of their spouse’s H-1B status or who are concerned about continuity of the H-4 EAD program
• Candidates in another nonimmigrant status who work for a different employer and would require an H-1B visa to change jobs
• Candidates in TN, E, or H-1B1 status for whom an employer is considering pursuing permanent residence

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is limited to a congressionally mandated quota of 65,000 cap-subject H-1B visas per fiscal year. By law, 6,800 of those visas are allocated as H-1B1 visas to nationals of Chile and Singapore. 20,000 H-1B visas are available in a separate allotment for foreign nationals who hold a master’s or other advanced degree from a US institution of higher education.

Only those petitions filed on behalf of foreign nationals who have not previously been counted against the H-1B cap in the last six years are subject to the H-1B cap. In addition, H-1B petitions for foreign nationals employed by institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations, or governmental research organizations are not subject to the cap.

REGISTRATION FOR CAP-SUBJECT H-1B PETITIONS

Since 2020, USCIS has imposed a two-step process for the selection of H-1B cap-subject submissions, beginning with electronic preregistration. Under this system, petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap petitions, including those who may be eligible for the advanced degree exemption, must first electronically register with USCIS during a designated registration period. This year, the nonrefundable H-1B registration fee has increased to $215 per beneficiary.

To complete the registration, petitioners will be asked to provide basic information, typically including the following:

• The employer’s name, employer identification number (EIN), and mailing address
• The employer’s authorized representative’s name, job title, and contact information
• The beneficiary’s full name, date of birth, country of birth, country of citizenship, gender, and passport number
• Whether the beneficiary has obtained a master’s or higher degree from a US institution of higher education
• The name of the employer’s attorney or accredited representative, if applicable

The registration period typically begins in early March and generally lasts 14 to 21 days.

RANDOM BENEFICIARY-CENTRIC SELECTION PROCESS

Once the registration period ends, if USCIS has received enough registrations to reach the cap, it will conduct a random selection process among the registrations received. USCIS received more than 470,000 eligible H-1B registrations during the FY 2025 registration period.

Upon completion of the random selection process, USCIS will individually notify all employers with selected registrations, and only those with selected registrations will be eligible to file an H-1B petition for the FY 2026 cap.

The unselected registrations will be kept on reserve for the applicable fiscal year. If USCIS determines that it needs to increase the number of registrations projected to meet the allocation and select additional registrations, the agency will choose from those on reserve.

Last year, upon adoption of a final rule titled Improving the H-1B Registration Selection Process and Program Integrity, USCIS implemented a beneficiary-centric selection process aimed at reducing fraud and abuse and ensuring that each beneficiary receives an equal chance of selection. Under the beneficiary-centric selection system, registration selection is based on each unique beneficiary identified in the registration pool as opposed to each registration. Each beneficiary is entered in the selection process once, regardless of how many registrations were submitted on their behalf. Beneficiary-centric selection will continue in FY 2026 and beyond.

FILING

Petitioners may file petitions only on behalf of H-1B beneficiaries whose registrations were selected. USCIS will likely announce a filing window of up to 90 days beginning around April 1, 2025.

If USCIS does not receive a sufficient number of H-1B cap petitions to meet the quota during the initial filing period, as occurred in prior years, a second random selection will be conducted. USCIS will randomly select from among the H-1B registrations that were filed during the March registration period but not selected. USCIS will notify selected employers and their immigration counsel of the results of a second random selection.

In early August 2024, USCIS completed a second random selection for the regular cap, and on December 2, 2024, USCIS announced it had received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa master’s cap for fiscal year 2025.

Submission of FY 2026 H-1B petitions must be filed on a new edition of Form I-129 Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker set to be released on January 17, 2025. USCIS will reject H-1B petitions prepared and submitted on earlier editions of Form I-129.

ACTIONS TO TAKE NOW

Employers should begin assessing their FY 2026 H-1B needs now—identifying current and potential foreign national employees for whom H-1B status might be beneficial—in preparation for the registration period. Our immigration team is prepared to help employers navigate this year’s H-1B cap season through strategic planning and preparation. By preparing early, employers can collect and organize applicable data to ensure they are ready for this dynamic multistep process.

Employers should also remain alert to the imminent changes to the H-1B regulations and registration process. Our January 2, 2025 LawFlash covers changes in H-1B regulations set to take effect January 17, 2025, and we are prepared to advise employers on the impact of these regulatory changes.