H-1B update: No second lottery, USCIS says it has received enough petitions for FY 2027

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that there will be no second lottery for H-1B visas for fiscal year 2027. The agency confirmed it has received sufficient petitions to meet both the congressionally mandated regular cap of 65,000 visas and the advanced degree exemption, known as the master's cap, which allows for an additional 20,000 visas.

Typically, USCIS holds a second lottery round if the initial application numbers do not reach the established caps. However, this year's H-1B lottery introduced significant changes, including a wage-based selection system instead of the previous random draw. This marked the first time higher-paying jobs received preferential odds.

Furthermore, employers were required to pay a new $100,000 fee for each H-1B petition filed, a measure introduced by the Trump administration. These new rules, particularly the substantial fee and the unfamiliar wage-based lottery, led to a notable decrease in registrations. For FY 2027, approximately 211,600 H-1B registrations were filed, a significant drop from the 343,981 registrations for FY 2026. Experts had anticipated that these changes might increase the chances for a second or even third lottery round, but the final numbers indicate otherwise.

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US Citizenship and Immigration Services has received enough petitions to reach the congressionally mandated 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and the 20,000 H-1B visa US advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap, for fiscal year 2027.