USCIS Confirms No Second H-1B Lottery for Fiscal Year 2027

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has officially confirmed that there will not be a second H-1B lottery for Fiscal Year 2027. The announcement, made on Friday, ends months of speculation among employers and foreign workers hoping for another chance.

According to USCIS, the agency has already received enough petitions to meet both of the annual H-1B visa limits:

• 65,000 visas under the regular H-1B cap
• 20,000 additional visas reserved for applicants with qualifying U.S. master's or higher degrees

Since both quotas have been filled, no additional lottery rounds will be held.

Why Many Expected Another Lottery

This year's H-1B process looked very different from previous years, leading many immigration experts to believe a second—or even a third—lottery might happen.

Two major changes fueled those expectations:

• USCIS introduced a wage-based selection system, replacing the traditional random lottery.
• Employers now face a $100,000 filing fee for each H-1B petition, making companies much more cautious about which candidates they sponsor.

Because these rules were brand new, many believed employers might file fewer petitions after receiving lottery selections, potentially leaving unused visa spots.

H-1B Registration Numbers Dropped Sharply

Another reason for the speculation was the noticeable decline in registrations.

For Fiscal Year 2027, USCIS received approximately 211,600 H-1B registrations, a significant drop from the 343,981 registrations submitted for Fiscal Year 2026.

The lower registration volume was largely driven by the new regulations, prompting experts to predict that additional lottery rounds could become necessary if enough selected applicants failed to move forward.

Wage-Based Selection Replaces Random Lottery

Fiscal Year 2027 was the first year USCIS used a wage-based lottery system instead of randomly selecting applicants.

Under the new approach, positions offering higher wages received better chances of being selected. Since employers had never worked under this system before, filing patterns were expected to be less predictable than in previous years.

Employers Became More Selective

The Trump administration's new $100,000 H-1B petition fee also had a major impact on employer decisions.

Rather than submitting large numbers of applications, many companies chose to sponsor only their highest-priority candidates. Some experts even expected that employers might decide not to file petitions for selected workers because of the high cost.

Despite those concerns, USCIS confirmed it received enough completed petitions to fill every available H-1B visa slot, eliminating the need for any additional lottery rounds.