How many H-1B visas are available each year?

65,000 under the regular cap, plus an additional 20,000 petitions for beneficiaries who have earned a master's degree or higher from a US institution of higher education.

Does a master's degree from India count for the 20,000 exemption?

No. The exemption applies to a master's degree or higher earned from a US institution of higher education.

How much does H-1B registration cost?

$215 for each registration, for the FY 2027 H-1B cap.

Can I file an H-1B petition myself?

No. The H-1B requires a US employer to petition on your behalf. There is no self-petition route in this category.

Which employers are exempt from the H-1B cap?

The USCIS cap page lists US institutions of higher education, and H-1B workers in Guam and the CNMI for petitions filed before 31 December 2029. Cap exemption is often described more broadly, so confirm your employer's specific status with USCIS or an attorney.

Is the H-1B lottery purely random?

Where selection is required, USCIS conducts a weighted selection among registrations for unique beneficiaries, based generally on the highest OEWS wage level that the proffered wage equals or exceeds for the relevant SOC code and area of intended employment.

When are H-1B cap petitions filed?

From 1 April, USCIS begins accepting online filing of H-1B cap petitions for selected registrations.

H-1B Visa Guide: Cap, $215 Registration & Eligibility

Q: What is a specialty occupation?

An occupation requiring the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialised knowledge, and a bachelor's degree or higher in a directly related specific speciality as a minimum for entry into the occupation.

65,000 under the regular cap, plus 20,000 reserved for US master's holders — and selection is no longer a flat random draw. Here is what USCIS states, and what it deliberately does not.

The H-1B is the visa most Indian professionals in the United States are either on, waiting for, or planning around. It is also governed by a lottery, which makes the parts you can control worth understanding precisely.

What an H-1B actually is

The H-1B lets a US employer temporarily employ a foreign worker in a specialty occupation — work requiring the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialised knowledge, and a bachelor's degree or higher in a directly related specific speciality as a minimum for entry into that occupation.

Two things follow from that definition, and both are routinely missed:

The employer petitions, not you. There is no way to self-file an H-1B. Without an employer willing to sponsor, the category is simply unavailable.
The degree must be directly related. A degree is not enough on its own; it has to be the normal minimum entry requirement for that specific occupation.

The numbers that decide everything

Item	Figure
Annual regular cap	65,000
Additional US master's exemption	20,000
Registration fee, per registration	$215 (FY 2027 cap)

The 20,000 are additional petitions for people who have earned a master's degree or higher from a US institution of higher education. A master's earned in India does not qualify for this exemption — the degree has to be from a US institution.

What that means in practice. A US master's puts you into a second pool as well as the first. That is the single largest controllable factor in your odds, and it is a decision made years before you ever file.

Cap-exempt employers

Not every H-1B goes through the lottery. USCIS lists as exempt from the numerical cap:

US institutions of higher education
H-1B workers in Guam and the CNMI, for petitions filed before 31 December 2029

A cap-exempt employer can petition at any time of year, with no lottery. For anyone whose profile fits a university role, this route is worth taking seriously rather than treating the March lottery as the only door.

Check the full list at the source. Cap exemption is commonly described as covering a broader set of organisations than the two above. We are listing only what the USCIS cap page we cite states. Confirm your specific employer's status on USCIS or with an immigration attorney before planning around it.

How the process runs

Registration. An employer subject to the cap must first complete an electronic registration for each prospective beneficiary, paying $215 per registration.
Selection. If USCIS receives more registrations than needed, it runs a selection. Where selection is required, USCIS conducts a weighted selection among registrations for unique beneficiaries, based generally on the highest OEWS wage level that the proffered wage equals or exceeds for the relevant SOC code in the area of intended employment.
Petition. From 1 April, USCIS begins accepting online filing of H-1B cap petitions for selected registrations.

The weighted selection is the part that has changed how this works. Selection is no longer a flat random draw across registrations — wage level factors into it. A higher offered wage relative to the OEWS levels for your occupation and location affects your position, which makes the offer itself, not just the filing, strategically relevant.

What the registration needs from you

The employer supplies your given, middle and family name, sex, date of birth, country of birth, country of citizenship, and passport or travel document number, country and expiry — plus whether you have earned or will earn a master's or higher from a US institution.

The passport detail is strict and catches people out. It must be the same document you used to enter the United States; if you are outside the US, it must be the one you intend to enter on. Its validity period must be current and unexpired.

Check your passport before registration season, not during it. Renewing mid-process creates a mismatch between the registration and the document you actually hold, and it is entirely avoidable by looking at the expiry date in advance.

What this guide does not cover

We have not published H-1B duration limits, extension rules, prevailing wage determinations or the Labor Condition Application process here, because they are not stated on the USCIS cap page cited below. They are real and they matter — confirm them on USCIS and the Department of Labor rather than from a figure repeated on a blog.

If you are currently an F-1 student, the mechanism that bridges your OPT to an H-1B start date is cap-gap, and it has its own rules and its own deadlines.

The H-1B Visa: Cap, Registration and Who Actually Qualifies