On March 31, 2025, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced they had received enough initial electronic registrations for unique individuals for the fiscal year 2026 (“FY26”) H-1B cap, as well as the advanced degree exemption (master’s cap) and have randomly selected enough properly submitted registrations. The Service has completed the notifications to all employers who submitted online registrations. Those with selected registrations may begin filing H-1B cap subject petitions for FY2026 as of April 1, 2025 and the period to file their petition with the service will be at least 90 days. Petitions may be filed either on paper at the correct filing location or online at my.uscis.gov within the filing period that is indicated on the selection notice.

The online accounts of registrants are now displaying one of the following annotations for each registration:

Submitted – A registration was submitted and is eligible for selection. The registration remains eligible, unless subsequently invalidated, after the initial selection process has been completed, and remains valid for any subsequent selections for the fiscal year.
Selected – Registration was selected to file a cap-subject H-1B petition for FY25.
Not Selected – Registration is not eligible to file a cap-subject H-1B petition for FY26.
Denied – The passport or travel document information listed on the registration is invalid, or multiple registrations were submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for the same beneficiary. If denied as duplicate registration, all registrations submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for this beneficiary for the fiscal year are invalid.
Invalidated-Failed Payment – A registration was submitted, but the payment method used was declined, not reconciled, or otherwise invalid.
Deleted: The submitted registration has been deleted and is no longer eligible for selection.
Processing submission: USCIS is processing the submission. It may take up to 72 hours for all of the case information to show on the case details page. While it is processing, the petitioner will be unable to access their draft.

USCIS reminds petitioners that when submitting cap subject petitions, filed either on paper or online, they must include a copy of the applicable selection notice for that fiscal year. We will continue to update you on the FY2026 H-1B Cap as we receive updates from the Service.