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H-1B petition filing starts: When is the deadline? Here's a quick rundown
The H-1B visa registration for FY 2026 closed on March 24, 2025. If registrations exceed the cap, a lottery will select recipients, with results by early April.
The initial H-1B visa registration for Fiscal Year 2026 (FY 2026) officially closed on March 24, 2025. So, the big question is, what's next?
Now, if the number of registrations exceeds the annual cap, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will do a lottery to randomly select recipients. The results of the lottery are generally announced around the end of March or early April.
What's the deadline for H-1B petition?
For those selected, employers can file full H-1B petitions starting April 1, 2025. The filing period generally lasts 90 days from the date of selection notification, which means it can run from April 1 to June 30, 2025.
Employment for approved applicants under FY2026 will begin on or after October 1, 2025.
If an applicant is not selected, their registration will remain in “Submitted” status. USCIS may conduct additional lottery rounds if cap slots remain open, so applicants should monitor their USCIS accounts for updates.
USCIS tightens rules for H-1B lottery system
Interestingly, the dramatic increase in registration fees is one of the most notable changes in this year’s H-1B process. From $10 to $215, the cost per beneficiary increased by 2050%. The fee confirmed by USCIS is intended to cover administrative expenses and to discourage frivolous registrations.
The beneficiary-centric selection process introduced in FY 2025 is also keeping to the plus. This system allows an applicant to enter one number of applications for selection, irrespective of the number of applications accounted for on his behalf. The rule is to prevent people from entering the lottery system more than once.
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USCIS also added additional fraud prevention measures to the H-1B lottery, effective January 30, 2024, in order to increase the integrity of the lottery.
The measures include strict verification that the beneficiary has not already passed on to achieve a multiple entry for one person, qualifying only select applicants to file H-1B petitions and scrutinizing fraudulent registrations and duplicate filings.
