H-1B visa registration period for FY 2026 to commence on March 7

Key dates and registration process

The registration window will open at 12 PM Eastern Time (10:30 PM IST) on March 7 and close at the same time on March 24, USCIS stated.

“During this period, prospective petitioners and representatives must use a USCIS online account to register each beneficiary electronically for the selection process and pay the associated $215 registration fee,” the agency said in its press release.

Employers and representatives can create USCIS online accounts at any time. However, they can only submit beneficiary details and pay the fees starting from March 7. The selection process will take place after the registration period ends, so there’s no urgency to register on the first day itself.

Beneficiary-centric selection process

For FY 2026, USCIS will continue with the beneficiary-centric selection process, which was first introduced for FY 2025.

“Under this process, registrations will be selected based on unique beneficiaries rather than the number of registrations submitted for them,” USCIS explained.

This change aims to reduce the chances of fraud and ensure that each applicant has an equal opportunity of being selected, regardless of how many times their name is submitted by different employers.

If USCIS receives enough unique beneficiary registrations by March 24, it will randomly select beneficiaries and send out notifications through the USCIS online accounts. If not, all properly submitted registrations will be selected.

Fee and payment updates

The registration fee for each beneficiary is $215. To accommodate the high volume of transactions, the US Department of Treasury has temporarily increased the daily credit card transaction limit from $24,999.99 to $99,999.99 for this H-1B season.

For transactions exceeding this limit, payments can be made through the Automated Clearing House (ACH). The USCIS advised that ACH users may need to inform their banks in advance to avoid any potential blocks on transactions.

Indians remain the top beneficiaries

Indians continue to be the largest group of H-1B recipients, with thousands of highly skilled professionals securing these visas every year.

The US Congress has capped H-1B visas at 65,000 annually, with an additional 20,000 slots for those holding advanced degrees from US institutions.

Enhancements in the registration system

For FY 2026, the USCIS has introduced several improvements to its online system, including:

Allowing paralegals to work with multiple legal representatives. Simplified procedures for legal representatives to add paralegals to company accounts.

Auto-filling certain fields in Form I-129 from selected H-1B registrations. The option to upload spreadsheets of beneficiary data to speed up registration.

Only employers whose registrations are selected can file H-1B petitions, including for those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. USCIS plans to notify selected petitioners by March 31, 2025.

For more information, USCIS encourages petitioners to visit the H-1B Electronic Registration Process page on their website.