Compliance Toolkit
H-1B Cap Registration Is a Hard Deadline — Miss It and You Lose the Entire Fi…
THE PENG LAW GROUP · EMPLOYER IMMIGRATION BRIEF
Compliance Toolkit

H-1B Cap Registration Is a Hard Deadline — Miss It and You Lose the Entire Fiscal Year

If your company plans to sponsor H-1B workers, the electronic registration window is the single deadline that matters most. There is no late filing, no appeal, and no carry-over: a missed registration means waiting a full year for the next cap cycle.1 With the FY 2027 cap already reached and USCIS confirming no second lottery, the next opportunity is the FY 2028 registration window, expected to open in early March 2027.2

Why This Deadline Is Different

The annual cap is 65,000 regular slots plus 20,000 for U.S. advanced-degree holders.1 Every candidate must first be registered online during the roughly two-week window, at $215 per beneficiary.1 Only selected registrations may proceed to a petition, and selection now runs under the new weighted, wage-level-based system — meaning the offered wage level affects selection odds, not just eligibility.2 Setting the wage level is now a strategic decision that should be made before registration opens, not after.

What to Prepare Before the Window Opens

Selected employers typically have only 90 days to file the Form I-129 petition, so groundwork must happen in advance.1 Three items drive most delays and RFEs:

  • Prevailing wage analysis. Confirm the correct occupation code, wage level, and worksite location early — DOL's annual wage data update took effect July 1, 2026, so last year's figures may be stale.
  • Certified LCA. DOL certification of the Labor Condition Application takes about 7 business days, and errors force a restart. The LCA must be certified before the petition is filed.1
  • Specialty occupation evidence. Document that the role requires at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field, and that the candidate's degree matches. Mismatched degrees and vague job duties are the most common RFE triggers.

A Simple Planning Timeline

By December 2026: identify all cap candidates, including OPT/STEM OPT employees whose work authorization expires before October 2027. By January 2027: finalize job titles, wage levels, and worksites with counsel. By February 2027: verify passport data and set up USCIS organizational accounts. Then register on day one of the window — not the last day, when system slowdowns are common.

Employer Action Items
  • Build your FY 2028 candidate list by December 2026, flagging employees whose current status expires first.
  • Run prevailing wage analyses now using DOL's July 1, 2026 wage data, and set wage levels with the weighted-selection rules in mind.
  • Assemble specialty occupation documentation — degree evaluations, detailed duty descriptions — before selection, not after.
  • Verify USCIS account access and candidate passport details in February 2027, and register early in the window.

This newsletter is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Attorney advertising. © The Peng Law Group.