{"id":632,"date":"2026-01-15T07:02:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/?p=632"},"modified":"2026-01-15T07:03:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:03:45","slug":"updates-on-the-march-2026-h-1b-lottery-and-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/updates-on-the-march-2026-h-1b-lottery-and-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"Updates on the March 2026 H-1B Lottery and Fees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; admin_label=&#8221;Section&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.0&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;Text&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.4&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; text_text_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;]<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">The March 2026 H-1B lottery will no longer be entirely random. Instead, selections will be <strong>weighted based on the wage level offered<\/strong> to the H-1B candidate.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Each H-1B position is assigned <strong>four wage levels<\/strong>, determined by occupation and geographic location. For example, in <strong>Maricopa County, Arizona<\/strong>, the annual wage levels for a computer systems engineer are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Level 1: $68,245<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Level 2: $93,538<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Level 3: $118,851<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Level 4: $144,144<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Under the new system, a candidate\u2019s wage level determines how many times their name is entered into the lottery:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>Level 4 wage: entered <strong>four times<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Level 3 wage: entered <strong>three times<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Level 2 wage: entered <strong>two times<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Level 1 wage: entered <strong>once<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As a result, a candidate offered a Level 4 wage will have <strong>four times the likelihood of selection<\/strong> compared to a candidate offered a Level 1 wage.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fees<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>For the 2025 lottery, the government registration fee was <strong>$205<\/strong>. USCIS has <strong>not yet announced<\/strong> the registration fee for the 2026 lottery.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>As of today, the new <strong>$100,000 H-1B application fee does <em>not<\/em> apply<\/strong> to candidates who are <strong>currently in the United States in valid legal status<\/strong> and are seeking a <strong>change of status<\/strong> to H-1B. For example, candidates on <strong>F-1 OPT<\/strong> who are selected in the H-1B lottery will <strong>not<\/strong> be subject to the $100,000 fee. However, candidates who are <strong>residing outside the United States<\/strong> will be required to pay the <strong>$100,000 fee<\/strong> if they are selected in the lottery and proceed with filing an H-1B petition.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Jared Leung at <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"mailto:jleung@jclimmigration.com\">jleung@jclimmigration.com<\/a> or call our main office at <strong>602-831-2329<\/strong> and ask to speak with any of our attorneys. If you are interested in participating in the H-1B lottery, we recommend contacting us by <strong>January 31<\/strong> to begin the process.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The March 2026 H-1B lottery will no longer be entirely random. Instead, selections will be weighted based on the wage level offered to the H-1B candidate. &nbsp; Each H-1B position is assigned four wage levels, determined by occupation and geographic location. For example, in Maricopa County, Arizona, the annual wage levels for a computer systems [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":633,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fire.h50.us\/~jclimm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}