FY 2026 H-1B Registration Will Open March 7
By Kayla E. Snider - Skoler, Abbott & Presser
February 12, 2025
We recently blogged about the process for entering the H-1B Visa lottery and discussed that the process generally takes place from the last week in February into early March. Well, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has officially released the dates for the H-1B Visa lottery for fiscal year 2026 (“FY 2026”).
- Initial Registration Period OPENS – 12:00pm EST, March 7
- Initial Registration Period CLOSES – 12:00pm EST, March 24
In order to register a beneficiary for the lottery, employers (or their attorneys) will need to create an online account with USCIS and pay the $215 H-1B Visa registration fee.
After the registration period closes, USCIS has stated that by March 31, 2025, it intends to notify employers of the names of the beneficiaries who have been selected in the lottery. The employers may then file H-1B petitions on behalf of the selected employees. Being selected in the lottery unfortunately does not guarantee that the employee will receive an H-1B Visa.
Employers sometimes unknowingly make simple errors when registering their beneficiaries for the lottery, which results in a rejection of the submission. If you’d make sure your registration is submitted correctly, stay tuned for our upcoming blog regarding dos and don’ts of the registration process.
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