The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has revealed that the registration period for the fiscal year 2026 H-1B cap will begin on March 7, 2025, and continue until March 24, 2025. Throughout this time frame, potential petitioners and their representatives are required to utilize a USCIS online account to electronically register every beneficiary for the selection procedure and pay the related $215 registration fee.
The H-1B non-immigrant visa program allows temporary work for foreign employees in specialized fields, which necessitate expertise and a bachelor’s degree or above. The program is in great demand, and each year, only a few visas are offered.
In order to take part in the H-1B registration procedure, potential petitioners and their representatives need to set up a USCIS online account. New registrants can set up an account whenever they wish and representatives can add clients to their accounts at any time. Nonetheless, applications can solely be filed within the initial registration timeframe.
The USCIS has established a selection process focused on beneficiaries, which chooses registrations based on individual beneficiaries instead of by the registration itself. If USCIS obtains registrations for an adequate number of distinct beneficiaries, they will randomly choose unique beneficiaries and notify them of their selection through their USCIS online accounts.
The USCIS has executed various improvements to the H-1B registration system, such as allowing paralegals to collaborate with multiple legal representatives, simplifying the process for legal representatives to include paralegals for company clients, and enabling the preparation of an H-1B beneficiary data spreadsheet that can be uploaded to pre-fill information in H-1B registrations.
The H-1B final rule and H-2 final rule from the Department of Homeland Security became effective on January 17, 2025, updating and enhancing requirements for the H-1B non-immigrant and H-2 non-immigrant visa programs.
Potential petitioners and their representatives are encouraged to thoroughly examine the USCIS website for complete instructions and guidelines regarding the H-1B registration procedure. The USCIS will offer further details prior to the commencement of the initial H-1B registration phase.
