H‑1B selection spike

The fiscal year 2027 H-1B cap season ended with a new, wage-weighted selection system instead of the old random lottery. (uscis.gov) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said on March 31 that it had received enough electronic registrations to fill the annual H-1B cap, including the advanced-degree exemption, and notified selected petitioners the same day. (uscis.gov) Selected employers can start filing cap-subject petitions on April 1, 2026, and each filing window runs at least 90 days; immigration lawyers say many notices list June 30, 2026, as the deadline. (uscis.gov) (natlawreview.com) The H-1B program lets United States employers hire foreign workers for specialty jobs that usually require at least a bachelor’s degree in a specific field. The annual cap is 85,000 visas: 65,000 in the regular cap and 20,000 for people with qualifying United States master’s degrees or higher. (uscis.gov) This year’s registration period opened at noon Eastern on March 4 and closed at noon Eastern on March 19. Employers had to submit registrations through United States Citizenship and Immigration Services online accounts and pay a $215 registration fee for each beneficiary. (uscis.gov) The biggest policy change came from a Department of Homeland Security rule that took effect on February 27, 2026. It replaced random selection with a weighted process that gives better odds to higher-paid and higher-skilled candidates while still allowing filings across wage levels. (federalregister.gov) (uscis.gov) United States Citizenship and Immigration Services also says some H-1B petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025, must include an additional $100,000 payment under President Donald Trump’s September 19, 2025 proclamation restricting entry for certain nonimmigrant workers. (uscis.gov 1) (uscis.gov 2) Initial results shared by immigration firms with Bloomberg Law indicate selection rates rose sharply this year, especially for higher-paid candidates, but United States Citizenship and Immigration Services has not yet published full official selection-rate data for the fiscal year 2027 cycle. (news.bloomberglaw.com) (uscis.gov) Employers that were selected still have to clear the normal petition stage. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services says each petition must match the registration, use the new February 27, 2026 edition of Form I-129, and include evidence supporting the wage level claimed at registration. (uscis.gov) The immediate next step is simple: selected petitioners have to file complete cases on time, and everyone else is waiting to see whether United States Citizenship and Immigration Services releases fuller data on how much the new rules changed the odds. (uscis.gov) (news.bloomberglaw.com)