United States: USCIS Releases Selection Numbers for the FY 2026 H-1B Cap
May 14, 2025
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At a glance
- USCIS received eligible registrations for 336,153 unique beneficiaries in the FY 2026 H-1B cap season and selected 118,660 – or approximately 35.3% – of these beneficiaries.
- The overall number of registrations submitted in FY 2026 decreased sharply from last year; 343,981 eligible registrations were filed this year, while 470,342 eligible registrations were filed last year.
- USCIS is not expected to determine whether it will need to conduct a second cap lottery until at least July 2025, after the current H-1B filing period closes.
The issue
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received H-1B cap registrations for approximately 336,153 unique beneficiaries for FY 2026, according to an agency website announcement. The agency selected 118,660 of these beneficiaries – or approximately 35.3% of those registered – to meet the annual H-1B quota of 85,000. This is a higher selection rate than in prior cap years; approximately 29% of unique beneficiaries were selected in FY 2025 and 24.8% of eligible registrations were selected in the FY 2024 cap season.
The number of eligible unique beneficiaries submitted in the FY 2026 cap (336,153) was significantly lower than the 423,028 unique beneficiaries submitted in the FY 2025 cap. In addition, the overall number of registrations submitted this season (343,981) was significantly lower than in FY 2025 (470,342). USCIS also reports that for FY 2026, the number of unique employers submitting cap registrations (approximately 57,600), was relatively comparable to FY 2025 (approximately 52,700 unique employers).
This is the second consecutive year USCIS has implemented a beneficiary-centric cap selection process, in which lottery selection occurs based on the unique foreign national beneficiary rather than on the total pool of eligible registrations. The change to a beneficiary-centric system was an effort to combat fraud and misuse in the H-1B registration system, and according to USCIS, registration data from both FY 2025 and FY 2026 indicates a reduction in misuse of the system. The agency attributes that reduction in part to the beneficiary-centric selection system and in part to other H-1B cap enforcement efforts such as investigations, petition denials and revocations, and referrals for prosecution.
Will USCIS conduct a second cap selection lottery for FY 2026?
USCIS normally selects more registrations than needed to meet the annual 85,000 H-1B quota, to account for cases for which no petition is ultimately filed, as well as cases that are denied, rejected, withdrawn, or revoked. However, should the initial selection not yield sufficient petitions filed for unique beneficiaries to meet the annual quota, the agency may decide to conduct a second lottery among submitted FY 2026 registrations for unique beneficiaries.
It is unlikely that the agency will make a decision on whether to conduct a second lottery until July at the earliest, after the petition filing period for selected beneficiaries closes. USCIS’s decision will depend on the number of H-1B cap petitions the agency receives for unique beneficiaries during the current H-1B filing period, which ends on June 30.
Fragomen is closely monitoring the FY 2026 H-1B cap and will issue updates as developments occur.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
