On December 23, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security unveiled a new weighted H-1B selection regulation, which is expected to go into effect on February 27, 2026. This new regulation, which dramatically overhauls the current H-1B visa lottery selection process that has been in effect since around 2006, follows the Presidential Proclamation of September 19, 2025, which had announced a seismic filing fee increase of $100,000 for each new H-1B petition filed after September 21, 2025. A subsequent announcement from the United States Citizenship & Immigration Service (“USCIS”) on October 21, 2025, outlined certain exemptions and further clarified those who are not subject to this new fee increase—including individuals who are currently in the United States under a different nonimmigrant visa status and are also eligible to change their visa status to the H-1B category. One such exempted group includes F-1 OPT students who are in the United States on a valid status at the time of the filing of the H-1B Petition.
Under the “old” H-1B electronic lottery section process, employers submitted H-1B registrations on behalf of potential beneficiaries to be selected for the H-1B lottery, which offers 85,000 H-1B visa slots annually (also commonly referred to as the “H-1B cap”). For example, for Fiscal Year 2025, a total of 470,342 registrations were submitted to USCIS by potential employers, and in Fiscal Year 2026, USCIS received a total of 358,737 registrations. Historically, the number of registrations has always far exceeded the available H-1B slots.
Under the old visa lottery system, every selection submitted had an equal chance of getting selected. However, under this new weighted system, a different rule will now apply: although the number of available H-1B visa slots will still remain at 85,000, the chances of an employer getting selected for an H-1B slot will now be greatly improved based on the wage level of the H-1B position being offered.
Each H-1B job position is designated one of four wage levels based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) wage guidelines —from the lowest Level I, which is generally assigned to entry-level positions, up to Level IV, which is the highest wage level commensurate with the applicant’s experience (and therefore eligible for a much higher wage offer).
The new weighted system is not subject to the luck of the draw because the probability of an employer being selected will be directly linked to the salary level that it is expected to offer to the prospective H-1B employee. This will necessarily force employers to be strategic in prioritizing not only the specific H-1B position being offered but also the proposed salary that comes with that position.
This new weighted process will have the following practical effect in terms of the probability of an employer’s ultimate H-1B selection: a Level IV position will be entered into the selection pool 4 times; a Level III position will be entered 3 times; a Level II position will be entered twice; and a Level I position will receive one single entry into the selection pool. According to USCIS, the new weighted system “will increase the probability that H-1B visas are allocated to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens while maintaining the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels.”
Although no specific dates have been announced by USCIS, the H-1B selection process for the FY 2027 H-1B cap registration season is expected to begin around late February/ Early March 2026.
