USCIS announced that the H-1B cap quota for fiscal year 2026 (meaning H-1B petitions submitted with lottery registrations in March 2025) has officially been filled.
The Issue
On July 18, 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the statutory limit for Fiscal Year 2026. As a result, there will be no secondary selection process as has occurred in prior years.
USCIS ran the lottery initially in March. No further registrations will be selected. Companies are able to register the same and new candidates for the H-1B cap in the FY 2027 lottery in March 2026. Submission in 2025 will not have any impact on the likelihood of selection in 2026.
USCIS is in the process of sending non-selection notices to registrants and their attorneys through their online accounts. The status for properly submitted registrations that were not selected for the FY 2026 H-1B numerical allocations will show:
“Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.”
Meltzer Hellrung will save these notices in its records.
For additional information about filing in the FY 2027 lottery please contact your Meltzer Hellrung attorney. We expect to start opening new applications in January.
A Deeper Dive
The H-1B category has a congressionally mandated general limit of 65,000 H-1B new visas per fiscal year and a 20,000 H-1B visa exemption for foreign nationals possessing a U.S. advanced degree, commonly known as the master’s cap. Employers wishing to sponsor foreign nationals for one of the cap subject H-1B visas must first participate in a registration process (a/k/a the H-1B Lottery) from which eligible registrants are selected. In past years, USCIS has needed to conduct a supplemental selection to allocate all available H-1B visas. The July 18th announcement by USCIS confirms that no additional H-1B visa registrations will be selected for Fiscal Year 2026.
USCIS will continue to accept and process petitions that are exempt from the H-1B cap, including petitions for:
- H-1B workers previously counted against the cap who have not exhausted the full duration of their eligibility;
- Extension of stay for current H-1B workers;
- Amended petitions to reflect material changes in the terms or conditions of employment for current H-1B workers;
- Current H-1B workers seeking to change employers; and
- Current H-1B workers requesting authorization to work concurrently in H-1B status for an additional petitioner.
What this Means for Employers
The exhaustion of the Fiscal Year 2026 H-1B cap means that no new cap subject petitions can be submitted until the Fiscal Year 2027 filing period begins on April 1, 2026. In addition to the technical categories listed above, certain nonprofit research organizations, colleges or universities, as well as nonprofit entities affiliated with colleges or universities, typically through collaborative research agreements, are exempt from the H-1B cap. Employers wishing to review U.S. immigration options for employees not selected for Fiscal Year 2026 processing, including options for cap exempt employment, should contact their Meltzer Hellrung attorney as soon as possible.
