The H-1B registration window for fiscal year 2027 opens on March 4, 2026 at noon ET and closes on March 19, 2026 at noon ET. If you’re planning to sponsor a key hire, here’s what has changed for this year’s cap-subject lottery.

The Big Change: A Weighted Lottery

The headline this year is that the H-1B lottery is no longer purely random. USCIS has finalized a weighted selection process for FY2027, meaning registrations tied to higher wage levels will have better odds of being selected than those at lower wage levels.

The government groups salaries into four wage levels for each job and location. Level I (entry-level) positions will face the longest odds; Level IV (senior-level) positions will have the best chances. For employers, there is a clear implication: the role or roles you’re sponsoring and how their salary and job duties are classified matters this year more than ever.

One Person, One Registration

This year USCIS’s “beneficiary-centric” selection process will continue. Under this approach, each worker gets entered into the lottery only once, regardless of how many employers register them. USCIS deduplicates lottery entrants based on passport information to ensure that multiple employer registrations do not improve one’s odds.

What Employers Need to Prepare

Registration requires the employer (not the worker) to submit and pay a registration fee. A few things to have ready before March 4:

• An active account on myUSCIS.gov for both the employer and the attorney.
• The $215 nonrefundable registration fee per registrant, payable through pay.gov
• The worker’s full name, date of birth, passport number, country of birth, country of citizenship and gender.
• Whether the worker holds a US master’s degree.
• The position’s SOC code and wage level (I through IV). Talk to your immigration attorney about proper classification, especially given the new weighted selection process and more rigorous verification procedures.

Special Considerations for Founders

Founders at early-stage companies sometimes have lower reported wage levels: not because the role is junior, but because early-stage compensation often centers on equity rather than salary. Unfortunately, for the H-1B lottery wage levels are determined solely on the basis of salary, and do not take into account “total compensation.”

If this applies to your company, it’s worth having a candid conversation with your immigration attorney about how wage levels are determined and whether alternative visa pathways (O-1A, for instance) deserve a harder look.

Regardless, if you plan to sponsor employees in the upcoming H-1B lottery, build time to discuss your plans with an attorney. The two-week registration window closes quickly, and missing it means waiting another year.

Download our h-1B Lottery Guide

We’ve put together a one-page overview covering the registration process, required information and the new weighted selection rules. Download the FY2027 H-1B Lottery Guide here.