New and (Not) Improved: Changes for the FY2027 H-1B Cap Registration Season

USCIS has confirmed that the FY2027 H-1B Cap registration period will run from 12pm EST on March 4, 2026 until 12pm EST on March 19, 2026. Employers will pay a fee of $215 per worker registered.

What’s New – The Weighted Selection Process

This will be the first H-1B cap season to employ the administration’s controversial weighted selection process, which favors foreign workers who have been offered higher-than-average compensation for their occupation. This means that U.S. employers will have to provide occupation and wage data for each worker at the time of registration; previously, employers provided this information only for workers selected in the lottery, in the H-1B petitions subsequently filed with USCIS.

The nominal goal of introducing this new selection process is to increase the likelihood of selection in the H-1B lottery for highly compensated foreign workers, who typically comprise only a minority of H-1B cap registrations and, as a result, an even smaller minority of H-1B cap selections. Under the weighted selection process, each worker registered in the H-1B cap is entered into the lottery up to four times, depending on how the offered wage stacks up against the prevailing wage levels for the occupation and geographic area of employment.

Rather than delving further into the technical details, let’s see how this approach works in practice. Imagine a U.S. manufacturer with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Houston, Texas. The company regularly hires recent college graduates as entry-level mechanical engineers, offering a starting salary of $100,000. Last year, two of the entry-level mechanical engineers hired by the company – one in each office – happen to be foreign nationals who completed their degrees in the U.S. using F-1 student visas. These two employees are currently able to work lawfully using F-1 OPT work authorization, but only for a maximum of three years.

The company wants to register these two workers in the H-1B cap lottery, in the hopes they will be selected and able to obtain H-1B status before they run out of OPT work authorization. In the past, these employees would have roughly the same chance of selection in the lottery. Under the administration’s new weighted selection process, however, the Houston employee will have a much better chance of selection in the lottery. This is because that $100,000 starting salary exceeds the Level II wage for mechanical engineers in Houston, Texas – netting the employee two entries in the H-1B lottery. The Chicago employee, on the other hand, will only get one entry in the H-1B lottery, because the same $100,000 salary only exceeds the Level I wage for mechanical engineers in Chicago, Illinois.

The Practical Impact on H-1B Registrations

The weighting process inflates the chances of selection for highly compensated registrants by granting them additional entries in the lottery, based on how their compensation compares to government wage data for their occupation and geographic location. The wage data for each occupation is divided into four wage levels (I, II, III, and IV); and so, the number of entries is determined by the highest wage level met or exceeded by the wage offered to the employee. According to DHS, whereas the chance of selection was roughly 30 percent for any registrant under the prior system, “the chances of selection for a beneficiary weighted at a level IV wage will increase to over 61 percent and a beneficiary weighted at a level III wage will increase to over 45 percent.” 90 Fed. Reg. 60864, 60874 (Dec. 29, 2025).

The preamble to the final rule recognizes the clear advantage that a highly compensated H-1B registrant will have over those whose offered wages more closely align with the prevailing wage levels. For purposes of the H-1B classification, these wage levels correspond to the level of experience and knowledge required to perform the duties of the position. So, a Level I wage is appropriate for entry-level positions; Levels II, III, and IV correspond to positions requiring increasing degrees of knowledge, experience, and independent judgment. But even for the same occupation, employers vary in size, industry, and budget; and under this new weighted selection procedure, employers that are able to pay higher wages will receive more H-1B cap selections.

To mitigate attempts to game the new selection system, USCIS will continue to follow the beneficiary-centric selection process, in which the number of registrations submitted on behalf of a single beneficiary does not impact their chance of selection. Additionally, the new procedure clarifies that the lowest prevailing wage level applicable to the beneficiary will be used to determine how many times they are entered into the lottery. So, if ten companies submit H-1B registrations on behalf of a single beneficiary, nine with a Level IV wage and one with a Level I wage, the beneficiary will be entered into the lottery once – not four times – since the lowest prevailing wage level applicable to the beneficiary is Level I.

Likewise, in the case of a beneficiary who will work at multiple worksites, the number of entries is determined by the worksite with the highest relative prevailing wage rates. DHS provides the example of a software developer working in both Sacramento and San Francisco, California for an annual salary of $175,000. That salary exceeds the Level IV prevailing wage for Sacramento, but only exceeds the Level II wage for San Francisco. In this situation, the beneficiary will be entered into the H-1B cap lottery twice – not four times – because Level II is the lowest equivalent wage level among all worksites.  

These changes to the H-1B cap lottery selection process mean that employers should plan to assess the occupational classification and wage level for each worker they plan to register in the H-1B cap, rather than waiting on the results of the lottery. Employers interested in learning more about how to proactively and strategically navigate this regulatory change should contact any of the following members of Buchalter’s Immigration group.

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