USCIS Completes All H-1B Lottery Selections for FY2026

USCIS has confirmed that they have received enough H-1B petitions to meet the statutory limits for FY 2026, which will begin on October 1, 2025. Unlike the last two years, USCIS will not be running a second or third lottery this year (unfortunately). USCIS has not yet disclosed how many registrations it received this year, but the significantly higher registration fee of $215 likely resulted in fewer registrations and a higher chance of selection.

For registrations that were not selected, no further action by the employer or foreign national is required. In prior years, employers received a formal notification from USCIS that the registration was not selected. At this time, the employer’s myUSCIS account continues to show “N/A” if a registration was not selected.

Many of us were expecting USCIS to run a second or third lottery this year based on the last two years, so this is disappointing news. If you would like to discuss alternative visa options, please contact me. Otherwise, we will reach out to employers early next year to see if they would like to submit registrations for the H-1B lottery in 2026.

By way of background, the U.S. immigration statute allows a maximum of 65,000 H-1B visas to be issued each year and an additional 20,000 H-1B visas for foreign nationals with a US master’s degree. Because employer demand for H-1B visas far exceeds the number of H-1B visas available, USCIS runs an annual lottery in March. Employers submit an online registration during a two-week window in March and USCIS selects registrations at the end of the month. Employers then have 90 days to submit a complete H-1B petition on behalf of the foreign national for a start date of October 1. An overview of the requirements and process is available here for your reference.

The Trump administration is (once again) proposing to change the lottery selection criteria based on salary levels, so that occupations paying the highest salary levels would have a better chance of selection. The administration tried this before, but was stalled by litigation that challenged the lawfulness of a wage-based selection criteria that would hurt entry-level professional positions. The Biden administration withdrew the proposal, effectively ending the need for litigation.

This alert is for informational purposes only. Please contact us if you would like to discuss these developments further.