U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the registration period for the fiscal year 2026 H-1B cap, which will open at noon Eastern on March 7, 2025, and close at noon Eastern on March 24, 2025. During this time, prospective petitioners and their representatives must use a USCIS online account to electronically register each beneficiary for the selection process and pay the $215 registration fee for each submission.
Account Creation and Registration Process
Employers without a USCIS online account must create an organizational account. Accounts from FY 2021–FY 2024 that were unused in FY 2025 will be automatically converted to organizational accounts after the next login. First-time registrants can create an account anytime. Representatives can add clients but must wait until March 7 to submit registrations and fees.
Beneficiary-Centric Selection Process
The FY 2026 registration will use the beneficiary-centric selection system, where USCIS selects registrations based on unique beneficiaries. If enough registrations are received by March 24, USCIS will randomly select and notify users by March 31, 2025.
Temporary Credit Card Limit Increase
The U.S. Department of Treasury has raised the daily credit card transaction limit for FY 2026 H-1B registrations from $24,999.99 to $99,999.99. Transactions over this amount will require ACH payments, and employers may need to notify their bank to remove any ACH block.
USCIS will provide updated resources and step-by-step guides on creating organizational accounts and submitting registrations on the FAQ page, which will be updated for FY 2026.
FY 2026 Organizational Account Enhancements
USCIS has introduced the following improvements for H-1B filing:
- Paralegals can now work with multiple legal representatives within one account.
- Legal representatives can easily add paralegals to client accounts.
- Certain fields on Form I-129 will be pre-populated from H-1B registrations.
- Beneficiary data can be uploaded to pre-populate H-1B registrations.
These features will be available before the initial registration period in March 2025.
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