What Is the FY2027 H-1B Registration Window?
The FY2027 H-1B cap registration window is the annual period when employers must submit electronic registrations for foreign national candidates they want to enter into the H-1B lottery. USCIS selects from the registered pool and notifies employers of selections. Only selected registrations advance to the full petition stage. The window for FY2027 opened on March 4, 2026, and closes at noon Eastern on March 19, 2026. No registrations are accepted after the window closes.
A Quick Glossary
H-1B cap refers to the annual statutory limit of 85,000 new H-1B visas (65,000 regular cap plus 20,000 US master's exemption). Because demand exceeds supply every year, USCIS runs a lottery to select which registrations advance.
Registration is the first step. Employers submit a brief electronic registration per candidate with basic information and a $215 fee. Registration does not mean filing a full petition - that comes only after selection.
Selection means USCIS has chosen a registration from the pool. Selected employers then have a window to file the full H-1B petition.
Wage level refers to which of the Department of Labor's four OES salary tiers the offered salary meets or exceeds for a given occupation and work location. Wage level is now the determining factor in how many lottery entries a registration receives. Critically, wage level is assigned based on the salary you are offering, not on the job's educational requirements or the employee's years of experience.
OES/OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) is the federal dataset the Department of Labor uses to set prevailing wage benchmarks by occupation and geography. It defines the four salary tiers used in the new lottery system.
Change of Status (COS) is how USCIS refers to a candidate already in the US on a different visa (F-1, H-4, L-1, TN, etc.) who is switching to H-1B status. COS petitions are generally exempt from the $100,000 offshore fee.
Executive Summary
- Window open now: Registration is open from March 4 to March 19, 2026. This is a 16-day window with no extensions. USCIS confirmed the dates officially.
- Two major changes this year: The random lottery is gone. A wage-weighted selection system is in effect for the first time - where lottery entries are determined by the salary you offer, not by the job's requirements or the employee's experience level. A $100,000 fee also applies to new offshore petitions. Both changes took effect before this registration window opened.
- What HR needs to do immediately: Confirm your candidate list, verify wage levels with your immigration attorney, identify which candidates are offshore vs. in-status, and submit all registrations before the March 19 deadline.
- Selections by March 31: USCIS will notify employers of selected registrations by March 31, 2026, via USCIS online accounts.
Key Dates
The Biggest Change This Year: The Wage-Weighted Lottery
For the first time in the history of the H-1B program, the lottery is no longer random. USCIS finalized the wage-weighted selection rule effective February 27, 2026, meaning it applies to every registration submitted in this cycle.
Under the new system, each registration receives multiple entries in the lottery pool based on the OES wage level the offered salary meets or exceeds:
The old random lottery averaged approximately 29.6% selection odds for all registrations equally. Under the new system, a Level 4 registration has roughly four times the selection odds of a Level 1.
How wage level is actually determined - and why it is not about experience.
This is the most commonly misunderstood part of the new system. Wage level is not assigned based on the job's education requirements, the complexity of the role, or the candidate's years of experience. It is determined entirely by comparing the salary you are offering against the OES prevailing wage thresholds for that specific occupation code (SOC) and work location.
The OES data publishes four salary cutoffs for every SOC code in every metropolitan area. You look at what you are paying the candidate and identify the highest OES threshold that salary meets or exceeds. That is the wage level you register under.
Practically, this means:
- A recent graduate being hired at a salary that exceeds the Level 3 OES threshold for their SOC code and location registers at Level 3 - and gets three lottery entries - regardless of how "entry level" the role is
- A senior engineer whose salary only meets the Level 2 threshold registers at Level 2 and gets two entries, regardless of their seniority
- Employers who pay above-market salaries for their location benefit directly from better selection odds - not because of the job's complexity, but because the offered salary clears a higher OES bar
For a full breakdown of how the wage-level system works and what it means for your hiring strategy, see WayLit's guide: HR Guide: DHS Final Rule - Weighted H-1B Lottery Confirmed for FY 2027
The Other Major Change: The $100,000 Fee for Offshore Petitions
A Presidential Proclamation requires a $100,000 fee for new H-1B petitions filed for foreign nationals who are outside the United States at the time of filing. This is separate from the $215 registration fee and is paid at the full petition stage after selection - but the hiring and budget decisions need to be made now, during registration.
Who is subject to the $100,000 fee:
- Candidates currently living and working abroad who would need to obtain a new H-1B visa to enter the US
- Lottery winners who are currently residing overseas at the time the petition is filed
Who is generally exempt:
- Candidates already in the US in a valid immigration status (F-1 OPT, H-4 EAD, L-1, TN, O-1, etc.) filing as a Change of Status
- Petitions that qualify for a national interest waiver, which may cover an individual employee, an entire company, or an industry sector, at DHS discretion
A federal court has upheld the $100,000 fee as lawful. Employers who assumed this was temporary or subject to reversal should build it into their planning.
For a full breakdown of who is exempt and how to evaluate whether a waiver applies to your company or a specific hire, see WayLit's resource: Judge Upholds $100K H-1B Fee: What Employers Need to Know (and Who Is Exempt)
What This Means for Your FY2027 Hiring Strategy
These two changes together require HR teams to make decisions during registration that previously could be deferred to the petition stage.
On salary and wage level: If your sponsored roles are priced such that they only meet Level 1 or Level 2 OES thresholds for your geography and occupation, your selection odds are now materially lower than in prior years. Before registering, work with your immigration attorney to confirm the OES thresholds for each role. If the offered salary genuinely justifies a higher level, register at that level. Do not inflate wage levels beyond what the salary actually supports - that is misrepresentation and creates serious compliance risk at the petition stage.
On offshore vs. in-status candidates: The $100,000 fee fundamentally changes the economics of offshore hiring. A candidate already in the US on F-1 OPT or another status is dramatically less expensive to sponsor this cycle. If you have flexibility in your hiring pool, prioritize in-status candidates for roles where the offshore fee would otherwise apply.
On budget exposure: HR teams sponsoring multiple candidates should work with finance to model total fee exposure before registrations are submitted. A company that registers ten offshore candidates and has five selected faces $500,000 in petition fees. That number needs a budget line before the window closes, not after selections come back on March 31.
What HR Should Do Before March 19
- Confirm your full candidate list with your immigration attorney - every candidate you want entered in the lottery must be registered before noon Eastern on March 19
- Verify the correct OES wage level for each candidate based on the offered salary relative to OES thresholds for their SOC code and work location - this is what determines lottery entries
- Identify which candidates are currently outside the US and subject to the $100,000 fee, and confirm whether any qualify for a national interest waiver
- Brief your finance and leadership team on the fee exposure for offshore candidates before registrations are submitted
- Ensure all registrations are submitted with the $215 fee via USCIS online accounts - registrations without payment are invalid
- Mark March 31 in your calendar - USCIS selection notifications will be issued by that date via online accounts
Compliance Rules vs. Strategic Best Practices
Strict compliance requirements:
- The registration window closes at noon Eastern on March 19. USCIS has not granted extensions in recent years. Missing the window means no H-1B cap petition for that candidate until FY2028 at the earliest.
- Wage levels submitted at registration must reflect what the offered salary actually supports relative to OES thresholds - not what the employer wishes the level were. Overstating wage level to gain additional lottery entries is misrepresentation and exposes the petition to denial or revocation.
- The $100,000 fee is owed at the petition stage, not the registration stage - but the liability is created by the decision to register an offshore candidate. Do not register offshore candidates without finance sign-off on fee exposure.
Strategic best practices:
- Review offered salaries against OES thresholds for each role before registering. If a salary genuinely clears a higher OES bar than what the employer originally assumed, the correct wage level may be higher than expected - and so will the selection odds.
- Consider deferring offshore hires where in-status candidates can fill the same roles. The $100,000 fee is a structural cost premium on offshore hiring that is unlikely to go away in the near term.
- Document how wage level was determined for each registration. If USCIS scrutinizes wage levels at the petition stage, contemporaneous records showing the OES lookup and salary comparison protect the employer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does wage level affect anything other than lottery odds?
Yes. The wage level registered also carries through to the petition stage. USCIS expects the actual salary offered in the petition to be consistent with the wage level registered. If a candidate is registered at Level 3 but the petition reflects a Level 1 salary, that inconsistency will raise scrutiny. The salary and the wage level must be aligned throughout.
Is the $215 registration fee new?
No. The $215 registration fee has been in place since USCIS introduced the electronic registration system in 2020. The $100,000 fee is entirely separate and applies only at the full petition stage for offshore hires after selection.
What happens if we register an offshore candidate and they are selected but we decide not to pay the $100,000 fee?
You can choose not to file the petition after selection. There is no penalty for declining to proceed after a registration is selected. However, the candidate loses their FY2027 selection entirely. Because the decision to register an offshore candidate is effectively a commitment to the $100,000 fee if selected, that decision should be made before registration, not after.
Can we register the same candidate under both the regular cap and the master's cap?
If the candidate holds a US master's degree or higher from a US institution, they are automatically entered in both the regular 65,000 cap pool and the 20,000 master's exemption pool. You do not register them separately. USCIS handles the dual-pool entry. A candidate selected in the master's exemption pool is not also counted against the regular cap.
If our candidate is not selected in March, is there any other path for FY2027?
Candidates not selected in the initial lottery can sometimes be reached through a supplemental selection round if USCIS determines the first round did not fully exhaust the cap. Not all years result in a second round. Cap-exempt employers - including qualifying non-profits, universities, and government research organizations - are not subject to the cap and can file H-1B petitions at any time of year.
Key Takeaway
The FY2027 H-1B registration window is open right now and closes March 19. This is the first cycle under the wage-weighted lottery, and the $100,000 offshore fee is in effect for the first time in a live cap season. The decisions HR makes in the next 15 days - which candidates to register, what salary determines their wage level, and whether offshore fee exposure is budgeted - will set the trajectory for your sponsored workforce through at least October 2026.
Platforms like WayLit give HR teams real-time visibility into their sponsored population, helping you prioritize which candidates to register and flag offshore fee exposure before the window closes.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration rules change frequently and some policies referenced are subject to ongoing litigation. Consult with a qualified immigration attorney before making registration decisions.
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