USCIS is rolling out the results for the 2026 H-1B cap season registrations, which opened on March 7, 2025, and closed on March 24. The initial registration period is for a minimum of 14 calendar days every fiscal year.
USCIS had communicated earlier that they intend to notify prospective petitioners and representatives whose accounts have at least one registration selected by March 31. The beneficiaries can start the petition filing process after they get selected in the H-1B visa lottery.
The H-1B visa selections occurred after the initial registration period closed on March 24 and by March 31, the selected beneficiaries had been notified.
Where to Check
H-1B visa seekers who have registered for 2026 cap season will have to check their Registrants’ online accounts that show one of the following statuses for each registration (that is, for each beneficiary registered):
Submitted: The registration has been submitted and is eligible for selection. If the initial selection process has been completed, this registration remains eligible, unless subsequently invalidated, for selection in any subsequent selections for the fiscal year for which it was submitted.
Selected: Selected to file an H-1B cap petition.
Not Selected: Not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.
Denied – duplicate registration: Multiple registrations were submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for the same beneficiary. If denied as a duplicate registration, all registrations submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for this beneficiary for the fiscal year are invalid.
Invalidated – failed payment: A registration was submitted but the payment method was declined, not reconciled, or otherwise invalid.
Deleted: The submitted registration has been deleted and is no longer eligible for selection.
Processing submission: USCIS is processing your submission. It may take up to 72 hours for all of your case information to show on the case details page. While it is processing, you will be unable to access your draft.
If USCIS would have received registrations for enough unique beneficiaries by March 24, there were to conduct a random selection of unique beneficiaries and send selection notifications via users’ USCIS online accounts.
If USCIS did not receive registrations for enough unique beneficiaries, all registrations for unique beneficiaries that were properly submitted in the initial registration period would be selected.
Initially started in FY 2025, USCIS will use the beneficiary-centric system even for the FY 2026 H-1B cap season. Under the beneficiary-centric process, registrations are selected by unique beneficiaries rather than by registration.
The passport or travel document provided must be the one the beneficiary, if or when abroad, intends to use to enter the United States if issued an H-1B visa. Each beneficiary must only be registered under one passport or travel document. Only those with selected registrations are eligible to file H-1B cap-subject petitions.
The submissions in the electronic registration process is used to determine if a petition is subject to the congressionally mandated cap of 65,000 H-1B visas (commonly known as the “regular cap”) or for the advanced degree exemption.
The advanced degree exemption is an exemption from the H-1B cap for beneficiaries who have earned a U.S. master’s degree or higher and is available until the number of beneficiaries who are exempt on this basis exceeds 20,000.
Also, up to 6,800 visas are set aside from the 65,000 each fiscal year for the H-1B1 program under the terms of the legislation implementing the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore free trade agreements. Unused visas in this group become available for H-1B use for the next fiscal year’s regular H-1B cap.
Importantly, not all H-1B nonimmigrant visas (or status grants) are subject to this annual cap (for example, petitions filed by U.S. institutions of higher education are cap exempt).
For the FY 2025 H-1B cap season, USCIS had selected 114,017 beneficiaries, resulting in 120,603 selected registrations in the initial selection.
Trump’s second presidency is focussing on jobs for American workers bringing H-1B visa jobs under a lot of criticism from Americans. According to a recent report by the National Foundation for American Policy, requiring minimum pay for holders of H-1B visas may make it more difficult for US companies to recruit engineers and scientists who were born outside the country. The proposed US wage increase for H-1B professionals, including a “median local wage,” could potentially hinder skilled foreign employment and deter international students.
In another development, the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) has informed the various stakeholders including American employers, that records of H-1B, H-1B1, H-2A, H-2B, E-3 visas and even Permanent Labor Certification Applications (PERM), older than 5 years from the final determination date, will be deleted from the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG) system beginning at midnight on March 20.
The H-1B program allows companies and other employers in the United States to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or higher in a directly related specific specialty (or its equivalent) as a minimum for entry into the occupation in the United States. H-1B specialty occupations may include fields such as architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, business specialties, accounting, law, theology, and the arts.