How the H-1B Visa Lottery Works: Registration, Selection Odds, and Key Dates

What the H-1B lottery decides

The H-1B visa lets a US employer sponsor you for specialty occupation work that needs at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field. Demand for H-1B slots exceeds the annual quota every year, so US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) runs an electronic lottery to pick which registrations move forward to a full petition. You need a job offer before anyone can register you, the employer submits the registration, not you.

What counts as a specialty occupation

USCIS requires the job to need theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge, and it must normally require at least a US bachelor's degree, or the foreign equivalent, in a specific field directly related to the job duties. A general business degree paired with a role that does not need that specific specialization can trigger a request for evidence or a denial, even after you clear the lottery. Match your degree field and your job duties closely when your employer describes the role to USCIS.

The annual cap

Congress sets the regular H-1B cap at 65,000 visas a year, plus a separate 20,000 slots reserved for candidates with a US master's degree or higher. Institutions of higher education, nonprofit research organizations, and nonprofits formally affiliated with a university can file H-1B petitions year round without entering the lottery at all, according to USCIS .

How electronic registration works

Each year your employer opens a USCIS online account and submits your basic details, name, passport number, and degree information, during a set registration window. The employer pays a registration fee for each person registered, $215 per registration for the FY2027 season, according to Greenspoon Marder . You only need a signed job offer at this stage, the employer does not need a completed petition ready yet.

How USCIS selects registrants

For several cap seasons, USCIS ran a fully random lottery where every unique beneficiary had an equal chance regardless of salary. That changed for FY2027. Effective February 27, 2026, USCIS moved to a wage-weighted selection process that gives registrations with higher offered wages, measured against the prevailing wage for that occupation and location, more chances of being picked, according to Fragomen . An entry-level offer at wage level I now has lower odds than a senior role paid at wage level IV, even with the same total number of registrations that year.

If your employer registers you at a lower wage level, expect lower odds under this system than under the old random lottery. Selection rules have shifted more than once in recent cap seasons, check the current methodology on the USCIS H-1B cap season page before you register.

Recent selection odds

Registrations dropped between FY2025 and FY2026 partly because USCIS tightened its beneficiary-centric system, which cut down on employers filing duplicate registrations for the same candidate through multiple companies, according to National Law Review . USCIS reached the FY2027 cap on July 17, 2026, with no second lottery round that year, according to Ellis .

Key dates each cap season

• Late winter: USCIS opens the online registration account window and publishes that year's exact registration dates.

• A two to three week registration window: your employer submits your registration and pays the fee, March 4-19, 2026, for FY2027.

• End of March: USCIS notifies employers whether their registrations were selected.

• April 1: the 90-day petition filing window opens for selected registrations.

• Late June: the filing window closes, June 30, 2026, for FY2027.

• October 1: the earliest start date for an approved H-1B petition, marking the new fiscal year.

After you are selected

Selection only means your employer can file the full petition, it does not guarantee approval. Your employer must submit Form I-129 with supporting evidence of the job and your qualifications inside the 90-day window. If you are on F-1 Optional Practical Training when your employer files a timely H-1B petition, cap-gap rules can extend your work authorization and status until the H-1B start date, confirm current cap-gap provisions with your school's international student office since they apply to specific filing scenarios.

If you're not selected

Being passed over in the lottery does not end your options. If your OPT is ending, ask your school about STEM OPT, a 24-month extension available to graduates in STEM-designated fields that buys time for additional registration cycles. Some students also look at cap-exempt employers, an O-1 visa if their record supports it, or a J-1 program while they wait for the next window. Talk to your employer's immigration counsel or your school's international office as soon as results come out, not months later.

A separate cost to watch

Beyond the $215 registration fee, a September 2025 presidential proclamation tried to add a $100,000 fee on new H-1B petitions filed for consular processing. A federal court vacated that fee in June 2026, the government appealed, and the Department of Homeland Security proposed a replacement $103,265 fee on cap-subject petitions in August 2026, according to Bloomberg . As of August 2026, this fee's final form remains unsettled in court and in the federal rulemaking process. Ask any employer that registers you whether they plan to cover this cost, and check the USCIS H-1B FAQ page for the current status before you rely on any figure.