The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on January 30th the beginning of the initial registration period for the H-1B visa quota for the fiscal year 2027. The registration period will start at 12:00 PM Eastern Time on March 4, 2026, and end at 12:00 PM on March 19.
During this period, employers and their representatives intending to apply for the H-1B visa must use the USCIS online account to electronically register each beneficiary. A fee of $215 for each H-1B visa registration is required for participation in the selection process.
Employers applying for H-1B visas without an online USCIS account must create an institution account. Representatives can add company clients to their accounts at any time.
Both representatives and employers must wait until March 4 to enter beneficiary information and submit the registration application along with the related $215 fee.
For more information on the electronic registration process, visit the H-1B Electronic Registration Process page on the USCIS website. The page will be updated by the immigration agency before the commencement of the initial registration period.
The selection process will take place after the initial registration period ends.
The USCIS plans to send notifications to at least one potential applicant or representative selected in the registration process by March 31. This notification will inform them of the selection outcome.
Applicants can only submit a formal application for a cap-subject H-1B beneficiary after their registration has been selected through the H-1B lottery process, including beneficiaries eligible for the advanced degree exemption.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has amended USCIS regulations, releasing a new version of the H-1B selection process that prioritizes visas for high-skilled, high-income foreign nationals to better protect American workers’ wages, working conditions, and job opportunities.
The announcement states that in the fiscal year 2027 H-1B quota application period, during the initial registration phase, if the number of registration applications received for specific eligible beneficiaries exceeds the quota limit, USCIS will conduct a weighted selection from the valid registration applications submitted for those beneficiaries.
If an insufficient number of registration applications for specific eligible beneficiaries is received, USCIS will select all eligible beneficiaries from the valid registration applications submitted during the initial registration period.
The announcement specifies that in accordance with the “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” issued on September 19, 2025, if an applicant’s registration has been selected and meets the eligibility for submitting an H-1B cap-subject application, they may be required to pay an additional fee of $100,000 before submitting the H-1B application as one of the conditions for eligibility.
For more details, refer to the “Presidential Proclamation on Restricting Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers” on the USCIS “H-1B Specialty Occupations” page.