United States: H-1B Cap Is Reached for FY 2027
July 17, 2026
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At a glance
- USCIS announced today that it has received enough cap petitions to fill the 85,000 slots available for H-1B employment available for the coming fiscal year, which begins October 1.
- USCIS has not yet provided data related to the FY 2027 cap registration selection rate. However, in May, USCIS announced that 211,600 registrations were properly submitted in FY 2027, a drop from 343,981 in FY 2026.
- Employers had until June 30, 2026 to submit petitions for registrants selected in the FY 2027 lottery.
- The agency will not run a second cap lottery selection for H-1B employment in FY 2027.
A closer look
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has received enough petitions to meet the annual H-1B quota of 85,000 for Fiscal Year 2027, according to an agency announcement issued today. Employers had until June 30, 2026 to submit petitions for registrants selected in the FY 2027 lottery.
The announcement means that USCIS will not conduct a second cap lottery selection for H-1B employment in FY 2027.
New this year, the Department of Homeland Security replaced the longstanding random H-1B cap lottery process with a new weighted lottery that increases the odds of selection for foreign nationals being offered the highest wages according to the Department of Labor’s four-level Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) prevailing wage system.
USCIS has not yet released sufficient data to determine the FY 2027 cap registration selection rate after the close of registration in late March 2026. However, in May 2026, the agency released a small amount of registration data through social media, including the following:
- The number of properly submitted registrations decreased by 38.5%, from 343,981 in fiscal year 2026 to 211,600 in fiscal year 2027
- 71.5% of selected foreign nationals hold a U.S. advanced degree, compared to 57% in FY 2026
- This fiscal year, only 17.7% of all selected registrations were in the lowest wage category (OEWS Level 1)
It is possible that USCIS will issue further FY 2027 cap data in the coming days or weeks.
What this means for employers and foreign nationals
The USCIS announcement means that there are no further opportunities for cap-subject H-1B employment in FY 2027; however, USCIS continues to accept petitions for H-1B employment that are not subject to the cap, including extensions of stay, changes of employer, amended petitions, and employment that is exempt from the annual quota.
Registrations that were not chosen in the FY 2027 lottery should be reflected in the USCIS system as “Not Selected: Not selected – not eligible to file an H-1B cap petition based on this registration.” If USCIS follows the protocols of prior years, the agency will post non-selection notices for these beneficiaries in the myUSCIS system over the next few days.
Foreign nationals whose registrations were not selected can be re-registered by a sponsoring employer when the FY 2028 cap season begins in Spring 2027. Unselected registrations are not carried over to the next fiscal year.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
