In February, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year (FY) 2026 H-1B cap will open at noon Eastern on March 7 and run through noon Eastern on March 24, 2025.

Key Points:

  • Prospective petitioners and representatives must register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $215 H-1B registration fee for each beneficiary using a USCIS online account.
  • As previously reported, H-1B petitioning employers who had an H-1B registrant account for the FY 2021 – FY 2024 H-1B registration seasons, but did not use the account for FY 2025, will have their existing account converted to an organizational account after their next login.
  • An H-1B cap-subject petition, including a petition for a beneficiary who is eligible for the advanced degree exemption, may only be filed by a petitioner whose registration for the beneficiary named in the H-1B petition was selected in the H-1B registration process.
  • If USCIS receives registrations for enough unique beneficiaries by March 24, they will randomly select unique beneficiaries and send selection notifications to users’ USCIS online accounts (and employers’ organizational accounts). Notifications to prospective petitioners and representatives whose accounts have at least one registration selected are anticipated to be sent by March 31.
  • If USCIS does not receive registrations for enough unique beneficiaries, all registrations for unique beneficiaries that were properly submitted in the initial registration period will be selected. Further details regarding the registration period can be found here.

Additional Information: Tutorials and FAQ on creating organizational accounts can be found here.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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