H-1B Visa: Requirements, Fees, and Lottery Process in 2026

H-1B Visa: How Employers Sponsor Skilled Workers and What Has Changed

If you are a skilled worker considering a job in the United States, or an employer looking to hire someone from abroad, the H-1B visa is one of the most common paths, and one of the most misunderstood. The H-1B is a temporary work visa that lets U.S. employers hire foreign professionals for positions that require at least a bachelor’s degree in a specific field. The employer sponsors the worker, not the other way around, and the process involves government fees, a competitive selection process, and strict eligibility rules.

This guide explains how the H-1B works, who qualifies, and what it costs. Two changes in 2026 matter most. The selection process now weights a worker’s chances by the salary the employer offers, and a federal court struck down a $100,000 supplemental fee that employers no longer owe.

If you have questions about whether the H-1B is the right path for your situation, the best step is to speak with an immigration attorney who can review your specific case. Reach out to Brooks Law Firm to schedule a free consultation, or call (617) 245-8090.

The H-1B Is Temporary, but It Does Not Block a Green Card

The H-1B is a nonimmigrant visa, meaning it is temporary, but it comes with an important advantage. It is a “dual intent” visa. That means the person holding it can pursue a green card, which is lawful permanent residence, without putting their temporary status at risk. Most other temporary visas, like the B-1/B-2 visitor visa and the F-1 student visa, do not allow this.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency that processes work visa petitions, manages the H-1B program. Only the employer can file the H-1B petition. The worker cannot apply on their own.

The employer files Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker. It must include a certified Labor Condition Application, or LCA, from the U.S. Department of Labor. The LCA certifies two things. The employer will pay the H-1B worker at least the prevailing wage for the position, and hiring the foreign worker will not harm the working conditions of similar U.S. workers.

Who Qualifies: The Job and the Worker Must Both Meet the Standard

Two things must be true for an H-1B petition to succeed. The job must qualify as a “specialty occupation,” and the worker must have the right credentials.

A specialty occupation is defined in federal law as a position that requires highly specialized knowledge and at least a bachelor’s degree, or its equivalent, in a specific field directly related to the job. Fields that commonly support H-1B petitions include architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, business specialties, accounting, law, and the arts. Working in one of these fields does not automatically make a position a specialty occupation. USCIS looks at whether the specific position requires a degree, not just whether the field is broadly specialized.

The worker must hold at least a U.S. bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent. If the worker has a foreign degree, USCIS requires evidence that the degree is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s or higher. The most common way to supply that evidence is a credential evaluation from an accredited agency, though the regulation calls for the evidence of equivalency itself rather than any particular document. A three-year foreign degree alone is generally not enough. Workers without the required degree may still qualify by showing a combination of education and progressively responsible work experience in the specialty, but this is a higher bar to meet.

The Annual Cap Means Most Petitions Go Through a Selection Process

Congress has capped the number of new H-1B visas at 65,000 per fiscal year. An additional 20,000 are set aside for workers who hold a master’s degree or higher from a U.S. institution. These 85,000 slots are known as the “cap,” and demand consistently exceeds supply.

Some H-1B petitions are exempt from the cap entirely. These include workers at universities, nonprofit research organizations, and government research organizations.

Your Chances Now Depend Partly on the Salary the Employer Offers

Each year, USCIS opens an electronic registration period, typically in early March. Employers register each prospective worker and pay a registration fee for each person they register.

Since the FY 2025 cycle, USCIS has used a beneficiary-centric selection system. The selection is based on the individual worker rather than the number of registrations submitted for that person, so registering with several employers no longer improves anyone’s odds. USCIS has reported that this change sharply reduced duplicate registrations. For FY 2026, USCIS received eligible registrations for 336,153 unique workers and selected 118,660, a selection rate of about 35.3%.

Starting with the FY 2027 cycle, DHS added a wage-based weighting layer on top of that system. Under a final rule that took effect on February 27, 2026, each registration is assigned one to four entries in the selection pool based on the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) wage level of the offered salary. A position at Wage Level IV receives four entries. A position at Level I receives one. Higher-paid positions therefore have a better chance of selection, but positions at every wage level can still be selected.

USCIS completed the FY 2027 selection on March 31, 2026. The agency has not released registration and selection figures for that cycle.

If a worker is selected, the employer has a 90-day filing window, typically starting April 1, to file the complete H-1B petition.

You Can Stay Up to Six Years, and Sometimes Longer

USCIS approves H-1B petitions for an initial period of up to three years. The employer can request an extension for up to three additional years, for a maximum total of six years.

After six years, the worker generally must leave the United States for at least one year before becoming eligible for a new H-1B. There is an important exception under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act, known as AC21. If the worker’s employer started the green card process at least 365 days before the six-year mark, by filing either a labor certification (PERM) or an immigrant worker petition (Form I-140), the worker may receive one-year extensions beyond six years while the green card process continues. If the worker has an approved I-140 but cannot file for a green card because of per-country visa limits, USCIS may grant extensions in up to three-year increments.

These provisions matter most for workers from countries with long green card backlogs, where waits can stretch well beyond a decade.

Your Employer Pays Most of the Fees, and Some Employers Pay Less

An H-1B petition carries several separate government fees, and the employer is required by law to pay most of them. The amounts change from year to year, and which ones apply depends on the size and type of the employer, so this post describes the fees rather than listing figures that go out of date. For a new cap-subject petition, an employer generally pays:

• An electronic registration fee, charged for each worker the employer registers.
• A base filing fee on Form I-129, charged at a lower rate for smaller employers, generally those with 25 or fewer full-time employees and certain nonprofits, and at a higher rate for larger employers.
• An American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act fee, known as the ACWIA fee, which funds worker training programs. It is lower for smaller employers. Institutions of higher education, nonprofit entities affiliated with them, and nonprofit or governmental research organizations are exempt from it entirely.
• A Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee, charged on initial petitions and certain employer changes.
• An Asylum Program Fee, charged at a lower rate for smaller employers. Nonprofit organizations are exempt from it.

Employers may also pay for premium processing (Form I-907). Premium processing commits USCIS to take action within 15 business days. That action may be an approval, a denial, a notice of intent to deny, a request for more evidence, or the opening of a fraud investigation. It is not a promise of a final decision in that window.

The current amount of every fee above is published on the USCIS fee schedule, which is the source to check before filing. If you want to know what a particular petition will cost in total, including which fees your organization owes and which it is exempt from, that is worth going over with Brooks Law Firm.

A Court Struck Down the $100,000 Supplemental Fee

In September 2025, the administration issued Presidential Proclamation 10973. It imposed an additional $100,000 payment on certain new H-1B petitions filed for workers outside the United States who would need consular processing. The fee did not apply to workers already in the U.S. seeking a change of status or an extension.

Twenty states challenged the fee. On June 8, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the fee amounted to an unlawful tax that exceeded the executive branch’s authority and encroached on Congress’s exclusive taxing power. The court vacated the implementing policies entirely.

The district court briefly stayed its own ruling on June 12 to give the government time to seek emergency relief, which temporarily reinstated the fee during that window. On July 24, 2026, the First Circuit denied the government’s motion for a stay, finding the government had not shown it was likely to win on appeal. The vacatur took effect.

As a result, the $100,000 fee is not currently enforceable. The proclamation was set by its own terms to expire on September 20, 2026, unless extended. The administration has separately proposed a new supplemental fee through formal rulemaking, but that proposal is not yet in effect. The merits appeal remains pending, and the legal landscape may continue to shift. An immigration attorney can help employers understand what fees currently apply to their specific filing.

Your Family Can Join You on H-4 Dependent Status

If you hold an H-1B visa, your spouse and unmarried children under 21 may apply for H-4 dependent status to live in the United States with you. H-4 status does not automatically include permission to work.

Certain H-4 spouses may apply for a work permit, formally called an Employment Authorization Document or EAD. This is available if the H-1B holder has an approved immigrant worker petition (Form I-140) or has been granted H-1B status beyond the standard six-year limit. The H-4 EAD program has been challenged in court, but federal courts have upheld the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to issue it, and the Supreme Court declined to hear the challenge in October 2025.

One practical change matters a great deal. The automatic extension that previously let H-4 EAD holders keep working while a renewal was pending was eliminated for renewal applications filed on or after October 30, 2025. A gap in work authorization is now possible even when the renewal is filed on time. Because of that, the timing of an H-4 renewal relative to the H-1B holder’s own extension is worth reviewing with an immigration attorney.

Your Employer Can Sponsor You for a Green Card While You Work

Because the H-1B is a dual-intent visa, many H-1B holders eventually pursue a green card through their employer. The most common path has three stages. First, the employer applies for a permanent labor certification (PERM) through the Department of Labor. Second, after PERM is approved, the employer files Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, with USCIS. Third, when a visa number becomes available, the worker files Form I-485 to adjust status to permanent residence, or goes through consular processing abroad.

Wait times vary depending on the worker’s country of birth and the employment-based category. For some workers the process takes a few years. For workers born in India or China, per-country limits can extend the wait to a decade or longer.

A USCIS policy memorandum issued on May 21, 2026 (PM-602-0199) directed officers to treat adjustment of status as a matter of discretion and administrative grace, and as an extraordinary form of relief rather than a routine step. Under that memo, meeting the eligibility requirements is not enough on its own. The applicant carries the burden of showing why an officer should exercise discretion in their favor. The memo does not create new eligibility rules and does not prohibit filings, but it signals a more demanding standard at the adjudication stage. If you are considering the green card path from H-1B status, how this memo may affect your case is worth discussing with an immigration attorney.

Losing Your Job Starts a 60-Day Clock

If your employer terminates you before your H-1B period ends, you have a 60-day grace period, or until your authorized stay expires, whichever is shorter. During that window you can look for a new H-1B sponsor, change to another status, or leave the United States.

You may also be eligible for H-1B portability. This lets you begin working for a new employer as soon as that employer properly files a new H-1B petition with USCIS. You do not need to wait for approval. This applies as long as you were lawfully admitted, have not worked without authorization, and the new petition is filed before your current authorized stay expires.

There is also a cost your former employer may owe. Federal regulations make the employer liable for the reasonable cost of return transportation abroad if it dismisses you before the end of your authorized stay. This does not apply if you resign.

One development is worth watching. DHS has drafted a proposed rule that would eliminate the 60-day grace period for certain nonimmigrant workers. That draft cleared White House regulatory review on August 27, 2026, but its text has not been published, the public comment period has not opened, and its details are not yet known. The 60-day grace period remains in effect and is unchanged. An attorney can tell you what protections apply at the time of your own situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I apply for an H-1B visa on my own?

No. Only a U.S. employer can file an H-1B petition on your behalf. The employer must show that the position is a specialty occupation and that you have the required qualifications.

How does the wage-weighted selection process affect my chances?

Since the FY 2027 cycle, each registration receives one to four entries in the selection pool based on the OEWS wage level of the salary the employer is offering. A Level IV salary gets four entries and a Level I salary gets one. Higher-paid positions have better odds, but a position at any wage level can still be selected.

How long does the H-1B process take?

Registration typically happens in March, and selections are announced by late March or early April. The filing window runs from April through June. Without premium processing, adjudication can take several months. The start date for cap-subject employment is generally October 1.

What if I am not selected?

Your employer cannot file a cap-subject petition for that fiscal year. You may try again in the next cycle. It is also worth exploring whether a cap-exempt employer or a different visa classification may work for your situation.

Can I change employers while on an H-1B?

Yes. Under H-1B portability, you can start working for a new employer once that employer files a new petition. No new cap number is needed if you were already counted against the cap.

Does the H-1B lead to a green card?

It can, but it is not automatic. Your employer must sponsor you separately through the green card process. The H-1B’s dual-intent feature means pursuing permanent residence does not affect your temporary status, which is a significant advantage over most other work visas.

Is the $100,000 fee still in effect?

No. A federal court struck down the implementing policy, and the First Circuit declined to reinstate it while the government appeals. The proclamation that created the fee expires on September 20, 2026, unless extended. A new fee has been proposed through formal rulemaking but is not yet in effect. Check with an immigration attorney for the most current status.

Reach out to Brooks Law Firm today to schedule a free consultation, and we will give you an honest look at where your case stands and what your options are. Call (617) 245-8090.