How to Check Your H-1B Lottery Results in 2026

If you registered for the FY2026 H-1B cap through your employer or attorney, your results are available in the myUSCIS online account where your employer or attorney submitted the original registration. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) doesn't send email or mail notifications for lottery results, you have to check manually. This article walks you through how to check the lottery results for your H-1B visa, what each status means, the key dates you need to know, and exactly what to do whether you're selected or not.

When do H-1B lottery results come out in 2026?

USCIS released FY2026 H-1B lottery results in late March and early April 2025, following the initial registration period that ran from March 7 to March 24, 2025. USCIS doesn't announce a single "results day" because it rolls out notifications in batches over several days. If your employer submitted your registration on time, your status should already be visible in myUSCIS.

On March 31, 2025, USCIS posted a notice confirming it had completed the initial selection process. If your status still shows "Submitted" after that announcement, USCIS didn't pick your registration in the first round.

If USCIS doesn't receive enough petitions from the initial round of selections, it runs additional lottery rounds. In past fiscal years, USCIS has conducted second (and occasionally third) selection rounds between July and October.

If your attorney filed the registration rather than your employer directly, your results may appear in the attorney's myUSCIS account first. When that happens, ask your attorney to check and share the result, since you won't see it in your own account.

If your employer's HR team filed directly but hasn't shared the result yet, ask them directly. Most companies share results within a few days of the USCIS announcement.

How to check your H-1B lottery results

H-1B lottery results for FY2026 are available exclusively through the USCIS myUSCIS online account system at myaccount.uscis.gov. There's no email notification, no mailed letter, and no way to check by phone.

1. Log into myUSCIS

Log in to the myUSCIS portal with the credentials associated with your H-1B registration. If your employer filed directly, they check their own account. If an attorney filed, the attorney's account shows the status.

Ask your employer or attorney to share the result with you if you don't have direct access.

USCIS uses Login.gov for authentication, so you'll need the email address tied to the Login.gov account your employer or attorney created for H-1B registration. If the HR representative who filed has left the company, a designated HR administrator or the company's immigration attorney can request account access through USCIS.

2. Navigate to H-1B registration

Once logged in, look for the "H-1B Registration" section in the account dashboard. This section lists all electronic registrations for the current fiscal year. Each registration corresponds to one beneficiary (you) submitted by one employer.

If you don't see the H-1B Registration section, you may be in the wrong account. This happens when an employer has multiple myUSCIS accounts or when a company switched attorneys between fiscal years. Confirm with your employer which specific account they used for FY2026 registration. If the employer used an attorney's account, the employer's own myUSCIS dashboard won't show the registration at all, only the attorney's account will.

3. Check your registration status

Your registration displays one of six statuses:

If your status shows "Submitted" and USCIS has already announced that initial selections are complete, treat this as a non-selection for the first round. USCIS doesn't always update every registration to "Not Selected" immediately, some stay as "Submitted" for weeks before the label changes. This doesn't affect your eligibility for a second round. Your registration remains in the pool regardless of whether the status says "Submitted" or "Not Selected."

What is a beneficiary confirmation number (BCN)?

When your employer or attorney submits an H-1B registration, USCIS assigns a beneficiary confirmation number (BCN) to confirm it received the registration. The BCN is a reference number for the submission itself, it doesn't show lottery results.

Many applicants try to look up their results using only the BCN and can't find anything. That's because the BCN confirms your registration exists in the system, but actual lottery outcomes are only visible in the registrant's (employer's or attorney's) full myUSCIS account dashboard. If you only have your BCN, ask your employer or attorney to check the myUSCIS account where they filed the registration and share the result with you.

If you have multiple registrations

If more than one employer submitted a registration on your behalf, each registration is tied to that employer's myUSCIS account. You need to check with each employer or their attorney separately.

Having multiple employers register you is allowed under the beneficiary-centric selection system. Each registration from a genuinely different employer counts as a separate entry in the lottery, which does improve your odds of selection. However, USCIS cross-checks registrations to identify and deny duplicate submissions from the same employer or related entities for the same beneficiary. If USCIS determines that employers submitted coordinated or fraudulent duplicate registrations, it may deny or invalidate all registrations for that beneficiary.

What each H-1B lottery status means

Every H-1B registration in myUSCIS has one of six statuses, and each one means something different for your next step.

A "Selected" status is good news, but it's only the beginning. Selection means your employer has permission to file an H-1B petition on your behalf, it doesn't mean USCIS has approved you for the visa, and it doesn't guarantee approval. The petition itself still needs to go through USCIS adjudication after filing.

What to do if you're selected

If your H-1B registration status shows "Selected," your employer now has a 90-day window to file a complete H-1B petition (Form I-129) with USCIS. This is a time-sensitive step, and preparation should start immediately.

Filing the H-1B petition

Your employer (or their immigration attorney) prepares and files the H-1B petition using Form I-129 along with all supporting documentation. The filing window for initial FY2026 selections runs from April 1 to June 30, 2025. Missing this window means losing the H-1B selection, and USCIS doesn't grant extensions.

Your employer needs to gather several key documents before filing the H-1B petition:

• A Labor Condition Application (LCA) certified by the Department of Labor, which confirms the offered wage meets or exceeds the prevailing wage
• Your educational credentials and degree evaluations (if your degree is from outside the U.S., you'll need a credential evaluation from a NACES-member agency)
• A detailed job description showing the position qualifies as a specialty occupation requiring at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field
• Evidence that the offered salary meets or exceeds the prevailing wage for the role and geographic location

Filing fees for FY2026

The total cost depends on employer size and whether they opt for premium processing.

Example: what a typical employer pays

For example, a mid-size tech company with 200 employees (less than 50% in H-1B/L-1 status) filing with premium processing for FY2026 would pay:

• $780 (base filing fee)
• $1,500 (ACWIA training fee for 25+ employees)
• $500 (fraud prevention fee)
• $600 (asylum program fee for 25+ employees)
• $2,805 (premium processing)
• Total: $6,185

A small startup with 10 employees filing without premium processing would pay:

• $460 (small employer base fee)
• $750 (ACWIA training fee for ≤25 employees)
• $500 (fraud prevention fee)
• $300 (asylum program fee for small employers)
• Total: $2,010

Premium processing

Premium processing doesn't speed up your lottery selection, it only speeds up USCIS adjudication of the petition after your employer files it. With premium processing, USCIS guarantees a response (approval, denial, request for evidence, or notice of intent to deny) within 15 business days of receiving the petition.

Without premium processing, regular processing times for H-1B petitions can range from several months to over a year depending on the USCIS service center handling your case. If your employer wants you to start on October 1 (the earliest possible H-1B start date), premium processing is worth considering to avoid delays.

Timeline from selection to employment

For most selected applicants, the timeline looks like this: your employer files the petition between April and June, USCIS adjudicates it (15 business days with premium processing, or several months without), and if approved, you can begin H-1B employment on October 1, 2025.

If you're already in the United States on another status like F-1 OPT, you can request a change of status as part of the petition. If you're abroad, you'll need to attend a visa interview at a U.S. consulate before traveling to the United States to start work.

However, the October 1 start date isn't guaranteed even with an approved petition. If USCIS issues a Request for Evidence (RFE) during adjudication, the response period can push approval past October 1. In that case, you can't begin H-1B employment until USCIS approves the petition. If you're on OPT and your OPT expires before approval, you may fall into a cap-gap extension period that keeps your work authorization valid, but only if your employer filed the petition on time.

Already in H-1B status? Cap-counting and transfers

If you already hold H-1B status with one employer and a new employer registered you, you may not need to go through the lottery at all. Cap-counted H-1B workers can transfer to a new employer by filing a new I-129 petition without being subject to the cap again. This is commonly called H-1B portability or transfer.

Your new employer can file the I-129 at any time, and you can begin working for them as soon as USCIS receives the petition (you don't need to wait for approval). This applies as long as you're in valid H-1B status and the petition isn't frivolous. If you're unsure whether you've been cap-counted, your current employer's immigration attorney can confirm.

However, keep in mind that cap-counting has exceptions. If your previous H-1B was with a cap-exempt employer (for example, a university), the cap may not have counted your petition and would still need to go through the lottery for a cap-subject employer. Additionally, if you've been outside the U.S. for more than one year since your last H-1B approval, your cap-count may have expired under certain circumstances.

What to do if you're not selected

Most H-1B registrants aren't selected in any given year, and you don't need to wait until next year's lottery to keep pursuing U.S. employment.

Wait for a possible second lottery round

USCIS may run additional selection rounds if it doesn't receive enough petitions from the initial pool. This happened in FY2025 and in previous fiscal years. If a second round happens, USCIS automatically includes your registration, you don't need to resubmit anything or take any action.

However, there's no guarantee a second round will happen in any given year. USCIS only runs additional rounds when filed petition numbers fall short of the 85,000 cap.

If enough employers from the initial round file petitions, no second round occurs. Second rounds have historically been announced between July and October, but the timing varies. Note that if your employer withdrew your registration after the initial round, you won't be included in a second round.

Check if you qualify for a cap-exempt H-1B

Not all H-1B positions are subject to the annual lottery. Employers that qualify as cap-exempt can file H-1B petitions at any time without going through the lottery. Cap-exempt employers include:

• Universities and colleges (for example, state university systems, and community colleges)
• Nonprofit research organizations (for example, hospital research centers affiliated with a university)
• Government research organizations (for example, national laboratories like Los Alamos or Brookhaven)
• Nonprofit entities related to or affiliated with institutions of higher education

If you can find a qualifying position at one of these organizations, the cap doesn't apply to your petition.

Explore alternative visa options

Depending on your qualifications and circumstances, other visa categories may be available:

• The O-1B or O-1A visa is for individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement in their field. It has no annual cap and no lottery.
• The L-1 visa is available if you've worked for a multinational company abroad for at least one year and are transferring to a U.S. office.
• The E-3 visa is available to Australian nationals for specialty occupation positions.
• The TN visa is available to Canadian and Mexican citizens for certain professional occupations under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Each of these has its own eligibility requirements, and not all will apply to your situation. An immigration attorney can help you evaluate which alternatives are realistic given your background.

Try again next year

The H-1B lottery runs annually. If you weren't selected this year, you can register again for FY2027 when the next registration period opens (expected March 2026). There's no limit on how many years you can enter the lottery, and each year is an independent selection. Previous non-selection doesn't affect your odds in future years.

What's changing for FY2027

Starting with FY2027, the H-1B selection process will shift from a random lottery to a wage-based selection system. DHS published the final rule (90 FR 60869) on December 29, 2025, with an effective date of February 27, 2026.

Under the new system, registrations for positions offering higher wages relative to the prevailing wage for the role and location will receive better odds of selection. This replaces the equal-probability random draw used for FY2025 and FY2026. The salary your employer offers will directly affect your chances of being selected starting with the FY2027 registration period in March 2026.

Migrate Mate lists thousands of verified H-1B sponsors hiring international talent right now.

How the H-1B beneficiary-centric selection system works

The FY2026 H-1B lottery is a beneficiary-centric system where each worker can have one selection chance per employer, which should help prevent duplicate registrations from inflating the pool.

Under this system, USCIS assigns each beneficiary (the worker) a single selection chance per employer. If three different employers register the same beneficiary, that person has three entries in the lottery, one from each employer. But if one employer submits multiple registrations for the same worker, USCIS flags and denies the duplicates. The goal is to tie each lottery entry to a genuine employer-beneficiary relationship.

Selection within the pool is random. Every valid registration has an equal probability of being picked, regardless of the offered salary, the employer's size, or the occupation. The lottery continues drawing registrations until USCIS expects to receive enough petitions to fill the 65,000 regular cap and the 20,000 advanced degree (master's cap) slots.

For FY2026, USCIS received roughly 344,000 registrations representing approximately 339,000 unique beneficiaries, competing for roughly 85,000 slots (65,000 regular plus 20,000 advanced degree). USCIS selected about 120,000 registrations, putting the selection rate at approximately 35%.

This was higher than FY2025, when approximately 442,000 unique beneficiaries submitted registrations and USCIS selected about 135,000 from a pool of over 470,000 eligible registrations.

Starting with FY2027, this random system will be replaced by a wage-based selection process that gives higher-salary registrations better odds. But for FY2026 results, selection was purely random within the beneficiary-centric framework.

H-1B lottery timeline and key dates for FY2026

Every milestone in the FY2026 H-1B lottery cycle, from the the March 7, 2025 registration opening through the October 1, 2025 earliest start date:

Frequently asked questions