H‑1B becomes pricier

A visa that used to start with a $215 registration can now require a $100,000 payment before the real petition is even filed, and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services says that extra charge applies to certain new H-1B petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025. The result is that a hiring tool once used by startups, hospitals, and small engineering firms is suddenly much more usable for companies with very deep pockets. (uscis.gov) The H-1B visa is the main route United States employers use to hire foreign workers in specialty jobs like software engineering, accounting, medicine, and research. Congress caps most new H-1B approvals at 85,000 a year, with 65,000 in the regular cap and 20,000 reserved for people with qualifying United States master’s degrees. (uscis.gov) This year’s registration window opened at noon Eastern on March 4, 2026, and closed on March 19, 2026. Employers had to create an online account and pay $215 for each worker they wanted entered into the lottery. (uscis.gov) Then the government changed the lottery itself. A Department of Homeland Security rule that took effect on February 27, 2026 replaced the old random draw with a weighted system that generally gives better odds to higher-paid and higher-skilled registrations. (federalregister.gov) That means two employers can register for the same kind of worker and face very different odds if one is offering a top-tier salary and the other is offering an entry-level wage. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services says registrants now must identify the highest Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics wage level the offered pay meets in the job’s location. (uscis.gov) On March 31, 2026, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services said it had received enough registrations for unique people to hit the fiscal year 2027 cap and had finished the initial selection. Only employers with selected registrations can move to the next step and file a cap-subject petition. (uscis.gov) Those selected employers could start filing on April 1, 2026, and they get at least 90 days from the date on the selection notice to submit the full case. They also have to use the new February 27, 2026 edition of Form I-129, include the selection notice, and match the petition to the same worker and job details used in registration. (uscis.gov) There is another new choke point inside that filing package. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services says petitioners must now submit evidence of the worker’s passport or travel document used at registration and evidence supporting the wage level they claimed when they entered the lottery. (uscis.gov) Put those pieces together and the market starts to tilt. A company now needs enough cash to absorb a possible $100,000 government charge and enough payroll room to offer a wage high enough to improve its odds in the weighted draw. (uscis.gov) (federalregister.gov) That combination hits younger companies hardest. A large technology firm can spread six figures across a big recruiting budget, but a 12-person startup hiring its first machine-learning engineer may see the visa cost more like a second salary. (uscis.gov) It also changes who gets sponsored. A hospital looking for an early-career analyst or a small manufacturer trying to hire a junior controls engineer now has weaker lottery odds than an employer bidding for a more senior, higher-paid worker in the same system. (uscis.gov) (federalregister.gov) For employers that were not selected on March 31, the options narrow fast: wait to see if United States Citizenship and Immigration Services runs another selection later, look for cap-exempt routes through universities or nonprofit research organizations, or move the role outside the United States. For employers that were selected, the new system leaves very little room for mistakes, because the filing window is short and the paperwork now has to line up exactly with what was claimed in March. (uscis.gov)