H-1B Cap Reached for Fiscal Year 2026

On July 18, 2025, the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it had received enough H-1B Cap-Subject applications to reach the congressionally mandated maximum of H-1B visas for Fiscal Year 2026.

Background:

The H-1B nonimmigrant status/visa is an employer sponsored temporary work status for foreign national professional workers in specialty occupations in the United States. The H-1B process is common for U.S. employers and requires that the employer prepare and submit an I-129 petition to the USCIS on behalf of each professional foreign national employee.

Under the current rules, the number of available H-1B nonimmigrant status/visas is subject to an annual limit.  This is known as the “H-1B Cap.”  Each year, there are only 65,000 H-1B visas issued for foreign national employees with a bachelor’s degree or higher plus an additional 20,000 visas are open for foreign nationals with a U.S. advanced degree (master’s or higher).  For many years, the number of H-1B petitions submitted by employers each year has far exceeded the cap.

Because of the limited number of H-1B visas, and the high demand for these visas, USCIS created an H-1B Registration Lottery to select foreign national employees (through their actual or prospective employers) for consideration of H-1B status. Each year USCIS handles the H-1B Cap Lottery through this employer-registration process, that is filed in advance of the submission of the actual H-1B petition.  As such, H-1B cases are completed in two (2) separate steps.

Step 1: Employer Registration.   During Step 1, the Employer submits an electronic registration of a H-1B Cap Case on behalf of each specific foreign national. The H-1B Cap Registration for each foreign national  must be submitted to USCIS’ electronic system in early March.   In late March, USCIS conducts a random, computer-generated selection (lottery) of all the H-1B registrations that it received during the registration period.  USCIS selects 65,000 cases under the bachelor’s cap and an additional 20,000 cases under the advanced degree cap.

If the Employees that the Employer entered in H-1B Registration Lottery are selected in the H-1B Registration Cap lottery, the Employer has 90 days (between April 1 – June 30) to submit a complete H-1B Petition(s) to USCIS on behalf of the selected foreign national employee(s).

If the Employer’s H-1B Registration(s) is/are not selected in the lottery, the Employer will not be able to proceed with the full H-1B Petition on behalf of the employee(s). 

Step 2: Preparation and Filing of H-1B Petition on behalf of the foreign national, professional employee with USCIS.  The Employer will have at least 90 days from the date that USCIS notifies the Company that its H-1B Registration on behalf of its employee has been selected under the cap to submit the complete H-1B Petition to USCIS.

USCIS receives and considers the H-1B Petition on its merits and notify the Employer of its decision.  If the H-1B Case is approved, the foreign national employee will be approved to begin working for the Employer in H-1B status no earlier than October 1^st of the relevant fiscal year, and for a period of 3 years, with a possible 3-year extension available.

Once the H-1B Cap is reached for the fiscal year, there are no more cap-subject H-1B visa numbers available until October 1^st of the following year.

What does the USCIS announcement that the FY26 Cap has been reached mean?

With USCIS’ announcement that the H-1B Cap for FY2026 has been reached, the agency will not conduct a second round of lottery selection for employees whose names were submitted by Employers in the H-1B Cap Lottery in March 2025.

Employers will start to receive notices of non-selection in their my.uscis.gov accounts for employees whose names were submitted in the H-1B Cap Registration Lottery in March 2025 and were not previously selected in the lottery.

Qualified foreign national employees may be placed in the H-1B Cap Registration Lottery in March 2026, for FY2027 (October 1, 2026), but will not receive H-1B status for this fiscal year.

For more information on the H-1B Cap, H-1B Cap Lottery or other information about employment-based immigration, please contact Kolko & Casey, P.C.