The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has granted its blessings to all possible applications for H-1B visas as it has confirmed the completion of its statutorily mandated cap for H-1B visa petitions for fiscal year 2026.
New cap-subject H-1B petitions will not be accepted as a result of this announcement. The next registration period for FY 2027 will open in March 2026. The H-1B visa program allows for the employment of foreign workers in specialized occupations such as engineering or health care that require specialized knowledge. However, this program is being hotly contested for American workers claim they are being displaced by workers from China and India who are willing to work for less.
In fact, it is said that the federal agency has already received sufficient filings to fulfill the congressionally mandated limit of 65,000 standard H-1B visas and the additional 20,000 visas allotted under the advanced degree exemption, commonly referred to as the master’s cap.
However, it is noteworthy that USCIS will also continue accepting and approving those cap-exempt H-1B petitions. USCIS said in its most recent announcement that it will keep processing and accepting petitions that are not subject to the cap.
The FY 2026 H-1B cap does not apply to petitions filed for current H-1B workers who have already been counted against the cap and who still have their cap number
“We will continue to accept and process petitions filed to: Extend the amount of time a current H-1B worker may remain in the United States; change the terms of employment for current H-1B workers; allow current H-1B workers to change employers; and allow current H-1B workers to work concurrently in additional H-1B positions.”
Which petitions are not affected by the cap
Extension of the current amount of time an H-1B employee may remain in the United States. Change the terms of the employment of a current H-1B worker. Permit current H-1B workers to switch employers. Allow concurrent H-1B employment with additional H-1B jobs. Registration in March, lottery selection. The petition filing window opened from April 1 to July 1. The petitions should demonstrate an employment start date of not earlier than October 1, 2025, and not more than six months after receipt of the petition.
An H-1B visa allows American employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations requiring theoretical and practical application of specialized knowledge and usually a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. Historically, most approved applicants from the category have been Indian nationals.
For FY 2026, there have been 343,981 eligible registrations received by USCIS. Among these applicants, 7,828 have had multiple qualifying submissions, but only 120,141 registrations were selected for further processing. This represents a considerable drop in the figures compared to that of FY 2025 when the agency managed a whopping 470,342 eligible filings, including 47,314 from beneficiaries with multiple entries, and selected 135,137 petitions.
According to the USCIS, Compared to last year, the number of eligible applications has declined by 26.9% for FY 2026. On average, a beneficiary has 1.01 registrations in FY 2026 as reported by the agency, compared to 1.06 average in FY 2025. This explains a kind of trend toward more targeted and likely streamlined petitioning strategy.
Thus, the H-1B visa remains one of the most important pathways for high-skilled immigration to the US. This announcement from USCIS puts a close to the first selection phase, and at the same time, it highlights the continued processing flexibility for cap-exempt cases.
