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On July 17, 2026, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough H-1B petitions to reach the congressionally mandated cap of 85,000 new H-1B filings for Calendar Year 2026 (FY2027). As a result, USCIS will not conduct a second lottery selection for H-1B cap–subject petitions this year.
Any H-1B registration not selected in the draw that was conducted in March 2026 will not be eligible to file an H-1B cap petition for FY2027. The next opportunity to sponsor an individual under the H-1B cap will be in March 2027 for the FY2028 cap.
USCIS received approximately 211,600 unique beneficiary registrations, which was significantly lower than the 336,153 registrations submitted in March 2025 for the FY2026 lottery. Employers had until June 30, 2026 to submit petitions for selected beneficiaries. Because USCIS received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to fill the FY2027 quota, there will be no second lottery this year.
If you have any questions regarding H-1B cap registration or the USCIS lottery process, please contact your Mintz Immigration attorney.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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