The H-1B Visa is the “workhorse” of nonimmigrant visa classifications, allowing employers to attract or retain highly skilled IT professionals, accountants, architects, business/operations analysts, designers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, researchers, teachers, and many other professionals to work in the United States.

The U.S. immigration landscape is expected to change with the next presidential administration. Specifically, we anticipate significant changes to dependent work authorization classifications such as H-4 EAD, L-2S, and E-2S. As such, we strongly recommend entering employees who are working pursuant to one of these dependent classifications in a qualifying position that meets the definition of “specialty occupation” in this year’s H-1B selection lottery. Likewise, employees working pursuant to an EAD associated with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status or other temporary employment-authorized immigration classifications (TPS, Humanitarian Parole, etc.) should be assessed for their eligibility for H-1B sponsorship as a viable alternative for a longer-term employment-authorized option.

The H-1B registration lottery is held each year to provide foreign national talent employed or offered a specialty occupation position (a position that requires a bachelor’s or higher degree in a related academic field) the opportunity to work in H-1B status. The lottery provides the government with a mechanism to randomly allocate the limited number (85,000) of H-1B visas to annual lottery registrants (H-1B hopefuls). Over the past few years, the selection rate in the H-1B lottery has been between 15 percent and 24 percent. Given this reality, it is wise for employers to register for the H-1B lottery at the first (and every) opportunity available for qualifying H-1B candidates notwithstanding the fact that the employee’s work authorization may not be expiring for several years. We also suggest doing immigration contingency planning should your employee be nearing the end of their employment authorization. As mentioned above, we strongly recommend that immigration contingency planning occur for employees working pursuant to a dependent status or one of the many temporary authorization classifications that may be eligible for H-1B sponsorship.

The H-1B Visa Lottery Works as Follows: Using an online registration system, employers will enter their employees in a lottery during the first two or three weeks of March. Registrants will be selected at the end of March. Following selection, there will then be a 90-day window for employers to file any H-1B petitions for employees selected in the H-1B lottery.

Please note, the online lottery registration fee has increased from $10.00 to $215.00 per registration.

Consider the Following Foreign National (FN) Employees: (1) FN employees who were not selected in previous lotteries; (2) FN employees who are currently working abroad; (3) FN employees in F-1 student status currently using OPT, STEM OPT, or CPT work authorization; (4) FN employees in TN, E-3, or a dependent to a principal visa holder (H-4, L-2, E-3D, E-2s etc.) working on an EAD; (5) FN employees who you may consider for green card sponsorship in the future; and finally, (6) FN employees with temporary work authorization such as DACA who may be eligible for H-1B sponsorship.

H-1B Registration Timeline:

• February: Ice Miller’s Immigration Team will work with company stakeholders and foreign national candidates to ensure the best immigration strategy. Please notify Ice Miller of any prospective H-1B candidates no later than March 17, 2025. Ice Miller will reach out to clients who have expressed an interest in the FY2026 lottery with additional information and guidance.
• Last week in February: Employers can begin creating H-1B registrant accounts (we will guide you through this process). 
• First two weeks in March: H-1B registration period is open noon Eastern on March 7, 2025, through noon Eastern March 24, 2025, whereby registrants can complete and submit registrations for the H-1B lottery.
• March 31: Date by which USCIS intends to notify selected registrants.
• October 1: The earliest possible start date for a successful H-1B petition (if your registration was selected and the petition approved)

If you have questions about the H-1B lottery process, please reach out to Immigration Team or the Workplace Solutions lawyer you regularly work with.

This publication is intended for general information purposes only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice. The reader should consult with legal counsel to determine how laws or decisions discussed herein apply to the reader's specific circumstances.