H-1B Lottery Results: How to Check & Next Steps

Each spring, far more workers register for the H-1B specialty occupation visa than there are visas available, so U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) runs an electronic selection process, commonly called the H-1B lottery. For the cycle tied to a fiscal year 2027 start, employers submitted registrations in March 2026, and USCIS posted selection results to online accounts by the end of that month. This guide explains how employers and employees check those results, what each status means, and what comes next whether a beneficiary was selected or not. It reflects the registration fee, the new weighted selection process, and the filing rules that apply to the current cycle, and it is current as of June 2026.

How H-1B Lottery Selection Worked in 2026

Before reading a result correctly, it helps to know how the selection itself runs, because the rules changed for this cycle. Understanding the mechanics also explains why a "Submitted" status is not the same as a rejection.

Registration and the Annual Cap

Congress caps new H-1B visas at 65,000 per fiscal year under the regular cap, plus an additional 20,000 reserved for beneficiaries who hold a U.S. master's degree or higher, according to the USCIS H-1B cap season page. That comes to 85,000 selections, far below annual demand.

To enter, the prospective employer (or its representative) creates an organizational account and submits an electronic registration for each beneficiary during the announced window. The fee is $215 per beneficiary, as confirmed on the USCIS H-1B electronic registration page. Selection is beneficiary-centric, meaning each unique person is entered once no matter how many employers register them, which limits attempts to flood the pool with duplicate entries.

Weighted Selection, New for This Cycle

Starting with the fiscal year 2027 cap, USCIS implemented a weighted selection process based on wage level. As described on the USCIS cap season page, a registration tied to the highest wage tier, Level IV, gets four entries, Level III gets three entries, Level II gets two entries, and Level I gets one entry. Each beneficiary is still counted only once against the cap, so weighting changes the odds of selection rather than the number of visas. If a beneficiary has registrations at different wage levels, USCIS uses the lowest applicable level. The practical effect is that higher-paid roles now carry a better statistical chance of selection than entry-level roles. USCIS finalized this process through a rule published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2025, with an effective date of February 27, 2026, and it applies to the fiscal year 2027 cap.

How to Check Your H-1B Lottery Results

This is the part most employers and employees get wrong. There is no public lookup tool and no individual congratulatory email from USCIS. The result lives in one place.

Where Results Appear

Selection results display inside the USCIS online account used to submit the registration. The employer uses an organizational account, and any attorney uses a separate legal representative account, per the USCIS registration process page. USCIS notifies prospective petitioners and their representatives through these accounts when at least one of their registrations is selected.

Employees do not receive a direct USCIS notice. A worker learns the result from the sponsoring employer or attorney who holds the account. Because selection is beneficiary-centric, if a worker was registered by more than one employer and is selected, every employer who registered that worker is notified and may move forward with a petition.

What Each Status Means

The registration's status field shows the result. USCIS uses these labels:

• Selected: A cap-subject H-1B petition may be filed for this beneficiary.
• Submitted: The registration was accepted and remains eligible for selection. If the first round is complete, this means the beneficiary was not chosen in that round but stays in the pool for any later round in the same fiscal year.
• Not Selected: The beneficiary is not eligible to file a cap-subject petition based on this registration.
• Denied: Often signals that more than one registration was submitted by or on behalf of the same registrant for the same beneficiary, which invalidates all of them, or that passport or travel document information was invalid.
• Invalidated, Failed Payment: A registration was submitted but the payment was declined or not reconciled, so it is not valid.

A status of Submitted after selections are announced as complete indicates "not selected this round, still in line for any future round," rather than a final no. This means that if USCIS conducts a second lottery selection round, individuals with statuses of Submitted may be considered in the second lottery

How and When You Are Notified

For the fiscal year 2027 cap, USCIS committed to sending selection notifications by March 31, 2026 through users' online accounts. After selections, USCIS announced that it had received enough registrations to reach both the regular cap and the master's cap, and that petitions could be filed beginning April 1, 2026, according to the USCIS selection completion alert. Account status may take some time to update after an action is submitted, so case details might not display immediately.

Next Steps If You Were Selected

A selection is permission to file, not the visa itself. This begins the most time-sensitive phase, because the filing window is fixed and the documents take real time to prepare.

File the Labor Condition Application First

Before the H-1B petition is filed with USCIS, the employer must obtain a certified Labor Condition Application (LCA), Form ETA-9035 or 9035E, filed electronically through the Department of Labor's FLAG system. On the LCA, the employer attests that it will pay the higher of the actual wage or the prevailing wage and will meet working-condition requirements. The Department of Labor states it will certify an LCA that is complete and free of obvious inaccuracies within seven working days, per the DOL Labor Condition Application program page. Because the certified LCA must accompany the petition, employers typically complete this step early in the process. The applicable wage figure can be confirmed through the DOL prevailing wage resources.

File Form I-129 Within the 90-Day Window

Cap-subject petitions for this cycle may be filed beginning April 1, 2026, and the filing period runs at least 90 days, through June 30, 2026. The petition must include a copy of the selection notice and the same passport or travel document used at registration, along with evidence that the role is a specialty occupation and that the worker is qualified. The employment start date must be October 1, 2026 or later. A new edition of Form I-129 (edition date 02/27/26) is required, and USCIS will only accept the current edition for petitions filed on or after April 1, per the USCIS selection completion alert.

Costs to Budget

Government fees are paid by the employer and are separate from any legal fee. Drawing on the USCIS H and L filing fee guidance, a typical new cap petition involves the base Form I-129 fee, an Asylum Program Fee of $600 (reduced to $300 for small employers and zero for nonprofits), the ACWIA training fee of $1,500 (or $750 for employers with 25 or fewer employees), and a $500 Fraud Prevention and Detection fee on an initial H-1B grant. Certain new petitions also carry a $100,000 payment tied to Presidential Proclamation 10973, published in the Federal Register on September 24, 2025, which took effect September 21, 2025 and is set to expire September 21, 2026 absent an extension. As implemented, it generally applies to beneficiaries outside the United States without a valid H-1B visa and to petitions that seek a visa abroad through consular, port-of-entry, or pre-flight notification, while a change of status for a worker already in the United States is generally exempt where USCIS can approve it as an in-country change of status. A federal district court upheld the measure in December 2025, that ruling is on appeal, and as of June 2026 the payment remains in effect with litigation ongoing. The fees that apply depend on the specifics of each filing.

Premium Processing

Premium processing is optional and guarantees that USCIS will take action within 15 business days, such as an approval, denial, request for evidence, or notice of intent to deny, per the USCIS premium processing page. The fee for an H-1B Form I-129 increased to $2,965 (up from $2,805), effective March 1, 2026, according to the USCIS fee increase alert. USCIS case processing times now apply uniformly and no longer vary by service center or location, per the USCIS processing times page. Many employers add premium processing when an F-1 worker's status is about to expire or the October 1 start date is tight.

Get Your Selected H-1B Petition Filed on Time with Alma

Once a beneficiary is selected, the window to June 30 is short. On Alma's platform, employers and employees upload documents into a secure system that tracks every deadline, and a dedicated attorney prepares the certified LCA and Form I-129 package together. Alma quotes a flat service fee for the cap petition rather than hourly billing, includes responses to a Request for Evidence in that fee, and bills government filing fees separately at cost, per Alma's pricing. Businesses sponsoring multiple selected workers can manage all of them in one dashboard through Alma for businesses.

Next Steps If You Were Not Selected

A non-selection is common given the odds, but it is not the end of the road. Potential options depend on the worker's profile and the timing of their current status.

Stay in the Pool and Re-register Next Cycle

A registration that still reads Submitted remains active. USCIS holds non-selected registrations and may run a second or later round in the same fiscal year if it does not receive enough petitions to meet the cap. There is no limit on re-registering in future annual cycles, though the $215 fee applies each time. The next registration window typically opens the following March.

Cap-Exempt H-1B

Some employers are exempt from the lottery entirely and can file an H-1B at any time of year. As described on the USCIS cap season page, institutions of higher education, nonprofit entities affiliated with them, and nonprofit or governmental research organizations are cap-exempt. A worker may also qualify when placed at a cap-exempt entity's site doing work that furthers that entity's mission. If a research university or affiliated nonprofit can sponsor the role, the lottery becomes irrelevant.

Other Visa Categories

Depending on qualifications and nationality, a different category may fit better than waiting another year. Common alternatives include the O-1A extraordinary ability visa for those with national or international recognition, the L-1 intracompany transfer visa for employees moving from a foreign office, the TN visa for Canadian and Mexican professionals, the E-3 visa for Australians, and the H-1B1 visa for nationals of Chile and Singapore. Workers on a long-term green card track can also self-petition through the EB-2 National Interest Waiver, which requires no employer sponsorship or labor certification. Comparing temporary work visa options can help clarify the paths that are available.

F-1 Students and the Cap-Gap Extension

If the worker is a student on post-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT) or STEM OPT, a timely-filed cap-subject H-1B petition that requests a change of status automatically extends their F-1 status and work authorization. Under a rule applied beginning with the fiscal year 2026 registration period, this cap-gap now runs to April 1 of the relevant fiscal year, or the H-1B start date if earlier, an extension from the previous October 1 cutoff, as explained by DHS Study in the States and the USCIS cap-gap page. The cap-gap extension ends if the petition is denied or withdrawn, and a registration that is not selected does not create cap-gap protection in the first place. Separately from cap-gap, F-1 students generally have a standard grace period of up to 60 days that follows the end of an authorized program or period of OPT, subject to the applicable rules. Cap-gap does not apply to consular-processing petitions.

Why Choose Alma for Your H-1B

The H-1B cap timeline is unforgiving, and the work splits between two phases that both have hard deadlines: securing the certified LCA and filing a clean I-129 before the window closes. Alma is an attorney-led, technology-enabled platform built to handle both for individuals and employers.

Alma uses transparent, flat per-visa pricing charged upfront, so you know the cost before filing rather than facing hourly surprises, per Alma's pricing. The case fee covers attorney expertise, paralegal support, platform access, compliance tracking, and a response to a Request for Evidence, while USCIS filing fees and third-party costs such as translations are billed separately. For employers managing several cases, Alma offers a dashboard with cost projections and real-time status, plus a 50/50 payment plan, volume discounts for companies managing larger foreign national populations, and preferred rates for partners such as portfolio companies of Y Combinator, Techstars, and Pear VC.

Alma H-1B Flat Service Fees

• Lottery registration: $500
• New cap or cap-exempt petition: $3,500
• Extension: $3,000
• Change of employer: $3,000
• Amendment: $3,000

Government filing fees are billed separately at cost. See full details on Alma's pricing page.

Read how employers and workers have used Alma across visa types in Alma's case studies, or schedule a consultation to map out the options after results.