The U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services, commonly called USCIS, has announced that the Initial registration period for the fiscal year 2026 H-1B cap will open on March 7, 2025, at noon Eastern. The registration will be extended till noon Eastern March 24, 2025. During this registration period, prospective petitioners and their representatives should register each beneficiary online through the USCIS account and pay the registration fee for each beneficiary which is $215.

For all the H-1B visa cap-subject petitioners, the registration process is mandatory. This registration should be made through the USCIS account online. To submit the registration, employers have to create an organizational account if they do not already have one. Employers who already have a prior fiscal year account for the year 2021-2024, their accounts will be converted automatically into organizational accounts when they make the next login. There is no need for account activity that has to be occurred in FY 2025. Employers who are new users can begin a new account anytime they want. Detailed resources and guidance regarding the organizational accounts are available on the Frequently Asked Questions page of the USCIS’s organizational accounts. This will be updated with the FY 2026-specific information before the registration period.

Representatives who are assisting the H-1B petitioners can add clients to their accounts beforehand, but the registration process will begin only on March 7, 2025. It is not necessary to register on the first day, all the registrations should be made before the deadline which is March 24, 2025. After this registration period closes, the USCIS will select beneficiaries on a random basis from all the registrations submitted. The USCIS will also send notifications through the online account of the users. Individuals whose registrations have been selected will receive notices by March 31, 2024. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has made a temporary increase in the daily credit card transaction limit for the FY 2026 season. The raise in limit is from $24,999.99 to $99,999.99. This is in response to the high volumes of transactions in the previous years. If the payment is exceeding even this year, the transactions will be processed through the Automated Clearing House. For an H-1B cap-subject petition to be filed, the registration of the beneficiary should be selected in the lottery process. Only then the petition will be submitted to USCIS. This is applicable even for the beneficiaries eligible for the advanced degree exemption.

Enhanced Features for Organizational Accounts in FY 2026

USCIS has announced many enhancements for organizational and representative accounts for the FY 2026 H-1 B filing season. They are:

• The paralegal Account Flexibility. The paralegal will be able to work with multiple legal representatives which allows them to manage the H-1B registrations, form I-129 petitions and the premium processing requests for various attorneys within one paralegal account.
• The Paralegal addition is simplified. Legal representatives can now easily add paralegals to their clients list.
• For selected H-1B registrations and the streamlining process, a specific field on form I-129 will be pre-populated.
• Employers have the option to prepare a spreadsheet of the beneficiary data and upload it to pre-populate registration details. This will simplify the process of entering the data.

All these improvements and modifications will go live before the initial registration period starts. This will enhance the efficiency and make the registration process easier.

For further details regarding the registration process and to access the accounts online, kindly visit the H-1B Electronic Registration Process page. Stay connected for more updates as the FY 2026 H-1B registration period is nearing.