Registration for H-1B candidates for FY 2026 will open on March 7, 2025, and will remain open until March 24, 2025. During this period, prospective H-1B petitioners or their legal representatives must use a USCIS online account to electronically register each potential beneficiary. The H-1B registration fee for every beneficiary will be $215. Please note that this is a significant increase from last year when the registration fee for every beneficiary was $10.
The selection process will take place only after the registration period closes, and there is no advantage to submitting registrations on the first day. However, it is important to do it as soon as possible as in the last few days of this period there is huge traffic on the portal and systems may get jammed.
If the number of beneficiary registrations reaches the cap by March 24, the USCIS will conduct a random lottery and notify selected petitioners through their USCIS online accounts by March 31. However, if the total number of unique registrations fall short, all properly submitted registrations will be selected.
Key Steps for Employers:
- Identify and nominate employees for registration.
- Gather required employee information for registration.
- Ensure access to the USCIS online registration system or create a USCIS online account for first time registrants.
- Work with immigration counsel to complete the process efficiently.
You need the following information about each beneficiary to complete the registration process:
- Employee’s full legal name
- Employee’s gender
- Whether or not the employee has a master’s or higher degree from a U.S. institution of higher education
- Employee’s date of birth
- Employee’s country of birth
- Employee’s country of citizenship
- Employee’s passport or travel document number
