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What are my odds of being selected in the H-1B lottery?
Since the FY2027 cap season, USCIS no longer runs a purely random lottery — selection is weighted by wage level. In the rulemaking, DHS projected selection rates of roughly 15% at Level I, 31% at Level II, 46% at Level III and 61% at Level IV. These are projections, not guarantees; actual rates depend on how many registrations are filed and at what wage levels. A higher-paying offer meaningfully improves the odds.
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How does the wage-level-weighted selection work?
Each registration states the OEWS wage level — I through IV — that the offered salary meets or exceeds for that occupation and location. USCIS enters the registration into the pool once for Level I, twice for Level II, three times for Level III and four times for Level IV, then draws from that weighted pool. The salary promised at registration also binds the employer: the LCA and the I-129 must be consistent with it.
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How does the registration process work?
The employer, or its attorney acting on the employer’s written authorization, submits a short electronic registration for each candidate during the window and pays the USCIS registration fee per candidate. No supporting documents are filed at this stage. USCIS then runs the weighted selection, and only selected registrations go on to a full petition.
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When is the registration window?
The registration window falls in March and is open for at least 14 calendar days. USCIS announces the exact dates in advance, normally in February. For the FY2027 season the window ran from March 4 to March 19, 2026. There is no advantage to filing on the first day — selection happens after the window closes.
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What is the master’s cap, and how does it affect my chances?
Of the 85,000 annual numbers, 20,000 are reserved for people holding a U.S. master’s degree or higher. Those candidates are considered in both pools, and the wage-level weighting applies within each — so a qualifying U.S. advanced degree still gives two chances, and a higher wage level improves the odds within both.
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Who signs the registration — can the candidate sign?
The registration carries attestations made by the employer under penalty of perjury, so it must be signed by someone with authority to bind the company, and not by the candidate being registered. Where we act as the company’s legal counsel we sign and submit on the company’s behalf, but the attestations remain the company’s. If the candidate holds an ownership interest in the company, tell us before anything is prepared.
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Do we need our own USCIS account?
No. We can create and administer a USCIS organizational account in your company’s name, so you never need to log in or maintain it; you confirm the registration by email before we submit. If you already have an account and prefer to keep the filing inside it, you connect it to our attorney account and confirm the registration there instead.
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What happens if my candidate is not selected?
Nothing further is owed to us — the petition-stage work only arises on selection. The registration service fee and the USCIS registration fee are not refundable: USCIS collects its fee at submission, and the registration work has already been performed. You can register again the following year, or look at cap-exempt employers, other categories, or remaining OPT or STEM OPT eligibility.
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Can several employers register the same person to improve the odds?
Selection is beneficiary-centric: each individual is selected once, however many registrations are submitted, so a second registration does not improve the odds. Two genuinely unrelated employers may each register the same person, but employers must not coordinate to multiply entries — that is a false attestation and can lead to denial, revocation and referral to federal law enforcement.
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If selected, how long do we have to file the petition?
The Selection Notice states a window of 90 days. Within it we must obtain a certified Labor Condition Application from the Department of Labor, which alone takes about seven business days, and file the complete Form I-129 package. Missing the window forfeits the selection entirely — there is no extension and no refund.
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Should I use an attorney for the registration, or register on my own?
The form is short, but every answer is attested to under penalty of perjury, and two of them carry real consequences: the OEWS wage level, which decides how many entries the registration gets and what the employer is then committed to pay, and the passport details, where a single wrong character voids the registration and the fee. An attorney also matters after selection, because the 90-day filing window is tight.
This legal service is provided by the independent law firm Luo & Associates Law Group, P.C. GOH1B is an information and booking platform only.
