Late on 5 February, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirmed the timetable for the next H-1B cap season: employers will have from noon EST 4 March until noon EST 19 March 2026 to submit electronic registrations for foreign talent they wish to sponsor beginning 1 October 2026. The announcement locks in the long-rumoured jump in the per-beneficiary registration fee from US $10 to US $215, a twenty-fold increase Congress authorised in the 2024 USCIS Stabilization Act.
Employers must create or convert to the newer “organizational” USCIS online account, which lets multiple in-house users and external counsel collaborate on the same company profile. Paralegals can now draft registrations, but only an authorised signatory can submit and pay.
For companies that also need to coordinate passport renewals, consular appointments or other travel documents for H-1B candidates, VisaHQ can shoulder the administrative load. Through its U.S. portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/) the service offers end-to-end online processing, real-time status tracking, and proactive deadline alerts—tools that integrate neatly with mobility teams’ existing workflows and free HR staff to focus on wage-level strategies and compliance.
![USCIS sets FY 2027 H-1B cap registration for 4–19 March with new US $215 fee]()
The agency reiterated that this will be the first cap season run under a beneficiary-centric, wage-weighted selection process (effective 27 February). Each unique passport/country-of-birth combination may be entered only once, limiting mass-duplication schemes. Higher prevailing-wage levels will receive up to four “tickets” in the randomisation algorithm, making it materially easier for senior software engineers or quantitative analysts to be picked than entry-level STEM graduates.
For mobility managers the practical implications are clear: budgeting must account for sharply higher upfront cash outlay; HRIS compensation data need to be scrubbed early so that correct wage-level attestations appear on each registration; and contingency plans for F-1 students whose cap-gap protection might not materialise remain essential.
USCIS says selection notices will be pushed to company accounts by 31 March, giving winners the usual 90-day window to file full petitions. Premium-processing on those filings will carry the new, inflation-adjusted US $2,965 fee starting 1 March 2026.
Employers must create or convert to the newer “organizational” USCIS online account, which lets multiple in-house users and external counsel collaborate on the same company profile. Paralegals can now draft registrations, but only an authorised signatory can submit and pay.
For companies that also need to coordinate passport renewals, consular appointments or other travel documents for H-1B candidates, VisaHQ can shoulder the administrative load. Through its U.S. portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/) the service offers end-to-end online processing, real-time status tracking, and proactive deadline alerts—tools that integrate neatly with mobility teams’ existing workflows and free HR staff to focus on wage-level strategies and compliance.
The agency reiterated that this will be the first cap season run under a beneficiary-centric, wage-weighted selection process (effective 27 February). Each unique passport/country-of-birth combination may be entered only once, limiting mass-duplication schemes. Higher prevailing-wage levels will receive up to four “tickets” in the randomisation algorithm, making it materially easier for senior software engineers or quantitative analysts to be picked than entry-level STEM graduates.
For mobility managers the practical implications are clear: budgeting must account for sharply higher upfront cash outlay; HRIS compensation data need to be scrubbed early so that correct wage-level attestations appear on each registration; and contingency plans for F-1 students whose cap-gap protection might not materialise remain essential.
USCIS says selection notices will be pushed to company accounts by 31 March, giving winners the usual 90-day window to file full petitions. Premium-processing on those filings will carry the new, inflation-adjusted US $2,965 fee starting 1 March 2026.
