USCIS says there will not be a second round of lottery for H-1B.
In a major update, USCIS announced Friday that there will not be a second lottery for fiscal year 2027. “USCIS received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated regular cap of 65,000 H-1B visas and the U.S. advanced class exemption of 20,000 H-1B visas, known as the MA cap, for fiscal year 2027,” the agency said.The agency holds a second round of lottery when you do not meet the maximum. This year, there was hope for a second or even third round of the lottery because this year’s H-1B lottery was different. For the first time, USCIS has held a pay-based lottery instead of a random lottery, and this is also the first time employers have had to pay $100,000 for each H-1B petition they file.Low number of registrations: Because of many new rules, there were fewer registrations for the lottery this time.
Experts believe that a lower number may open a greater chance of a second or third round of the lottery. About 211,600 H-1B registrations were filed for FY 2027 compared to 343,981 for FY 2026.Pay-based lottery: Fiscal year 2027 was the first year that USCIS used a wage-based lottery, replacing the previous random selection process. Higher paying jobs had better selection probabilities. Because employers were entering unfamiliar territory, some experts expected application behavior to be less predictable.
New fees of $100,000: The Trump administration also imposed a $100,000 H-1B fee, making employers more selective about who they signed up. Many companies submitted fewer registrations than in previous years. It was anticipated that many employers may not file the petition until after the employee has been selected by lottery because of fees.
