If your company hires international workers, especially recent graduates working on OPT, the next H-1B season may look very different. The U.S. government has finalized a rule that changes how USCIS will run the H-1B lottery. In past years, when there were more registrations than visas available, USCIS used a system where every registration had the same chance of being selected.
Starting in 2026, that will no longer be true. The new rule is designed to give higher-paying jobs better odds of selection. The rule takes effect on February 27, 2026, and it is expected to apply to the March 2026 registration period for the FY 2027 H-1B cap season.
Why the H-1B Lottery Exists
To understand why this matters, it helps to remember how the H-1B cap works. Each year, Congress limits the number of new H-1B approvals to 65,000 under the regular cap, plus an additional 20,000 for people who earned a qualifying U.S. master’s degree or higher. Employers typically submit far more registrations than that, which is why USCIS runs a selection process to decide which employers get to move forward and file full H-1B petitions.
For many businesses, this selection step is the most stressful part of the process, because a key employee who is not selected may not be able to stay once their current work authorization expires.
What’s Changing Starting in 2026
The major change in 2026 is that the lottery will still exist, but it will no longer be “equal chance.” Under the new rule, USCIS will still choose registrations randomly, but it will give some registrations more “entries” in the lottery depending on wage level. Wage level is based on factors like the job role, the location of the worksite, and the salary being offered.
The final rule explains that wage level IV registrations will have four entries in the selection pool, wage level III will have three, wage level II will have two, and wage level I will have one. That means higher wage levels will generally be selected more often over time, even though the process is still technically random.
The One Rule Employers Shouldn’t Miss
There is another detail employers should understand, because it can easily be overlooked. The H-1B registration system is now beneficiary-centric, which means the selection is built around the person being sponsored rather than treating each registration separately. Under the new weighted system, if the same person is registered by multiple employers at different wage levels, USCIS will treat that person as belonging to the lowest wage level submitted for them when running the selection.
In simple terms, one lower-wage registration filed by another employer can reduce the person’s overall selection odds. This makes communication and coordination more important than in prior years, especially for candidates who are interviewing with multiple employers at the same time.
What This Means for Employers
For employers, the biggest takeaway is that immigration planning and compensation planning are now more closely tied together. This does not mean employers should raise wages just to try to “win” the lottery, because wage levels also depend on the job duties and required experience, and wages must still be legitimate and consistent with the role.
But it does mean employers should take wage level seriously as part of their H-1B strategy. Companies that rely heavily on entry-level hiring may feel the impact most strongly, since entry-level roles often fall into lower wage levels, and lower wage levels receive fewer entries in the selection pool under the new rule.
How Employers Can Prepare Before March 2026
The best thing employers can do is start preparing earlier than usual. Employers should identify which employees they expect to sponsor for the FY 2027 season, confirm job titles and work locations, and make sure job descriptions clearly match the actual duties of the role. Because wage level can change depending on where the person will work and how the role is structured, employers should also verify those details early, especially for remote or hybrid positions.
If a critical role is very close to the next wage tier, it may be worth discussing whether an adjustment makes sense, as long as it fits the company’s budget and internal pay structure. At the same time, employers should plan for the possibility that a candidate is not selected, since even a weighted system will still involve randomness and there will still be more demand than available visas.
Bottom Line
Preparing for the FY 2027 H-1B season under the new weighted selection system will require more planning than in prior years, and many employers will benefit from reviewing their strategy well before March 2026. Our firm can help employers evaluate job roles, worksite plans, wage level positioning, and registration readiness so that filings are not only compliant, but also structured properly under the new rules.
