US: H-1B Visa Registration for 2026 To Open from March 7, 2025

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the initial registration period for the fiscal year 2026 H-1B cap will open from 10:30 PM IST on March 7, 2025, to 10:30 PM IST on March 24, 2025. During this timeframe, prospective petitioners and their representatives must electronically register each beneficiary using a USCIS online account and pay the associated registration fee.

Key Details for Employers and Registrants

• H-1B petitioning employers who do not have a USCIS online account must create an organizational account.
• Employers with an H-1B registrant account from FY 2021 – FY 2024 but did not use it for FY 2025 will have their accounts converted to an organizational account upon their next login.
• First-time registrants can create an account at any time, and additional resources, including step-by-step videos, are available in the Organizational Accounts Frequently Asked Questions section. These FAQs will be updated with FY 2026 information before the registration period begins.

Beneficiary-Centric Selection Process

The FY 2026 H-1B cap will continue using the beneficiary-centric selection process introduced in FY 2025. Under this system:

• Registrations are selected by unique beneficiaries rather than by registration.
• If USCIS receives enough unique beneficiary registrations by March 24, it will randomly select beneficiaries and notify users via their USCIS online accounts.
• If there are not enough registrations, all properly submitted unique beneficiary registrations will be selected.

USCIS intends to notify selected petitioners and representatives by March 31, 2025.

Registration and Payment Information

• Representatives can add clients to their accounts at any time.
• However, both representatives and registrants must wait until March 7, 2025, to enter beneficiary details and submit the registration with a $215 fee.
• Selections take place after the registration period closes, meaning there is no advantage to registering on the first day.

Temporary Increase in Credit Card Transaction Limit

To accommodate high registration volumes, the U.S. Department of Treasury has temporarily increased the daily credit card transaction limit from $24,999.99 to $99,999.99 for the FY 2026 H-1B cap season. Transactions exceeding this limit can be made via Automated Clearing House (ACH), though users may need to notify their bank in advance to remove potential ACH blocks.

Filing H-1B Cap-Subject Petitions

An H-1B cap-subject petition, including those under the advanced degree exemption, can only be filed by a petitioner whose registration for the specified beneficiary has been selected.

Enhancements to Organizational Accounts

USCIS has introduced several improvements for FY 2026 to streamline the H-1B filing process, including:

Paralegal Access Expansion: Paralegals can now collaborate with multiple legal representatives, allowing them to assist in preparing H-1B registrations, Form I-129 petitions, and Form I-907 requests for premium processing across different attorneys within a single account.

Simplified Legal Representative Management: Legal representatives can now add paralegals to company clients more easily.

Pre-populated Forms: Selected H-1B registrations will auto-fill certain fields in Form I-129, reducing manual data entry.

Batch Data Upload: Employers and legal representatives can now prepare a spreadsheet of H-1B beneficiary data and upload it to pre-populate registration fields, improving efficiency.

These enhancements will go live before the initial registration period begins.

For further details, visit the H-1B Electronic Registration Process page on the USCIS website.