International Students & OPT
The H-1B cap is no longer a flat lottery. Here is what that changes about your job search.
H-1B registrations are now entered one to four times based on OEWS wage level. What that means for the roles and locations you target.
Since 27 February 2026, cap-subject H-1B registrations are no longer drawn from a flat pool. Each registration is entered into the selection pool between one and four times depending on the OEWS wage level its offered salary reaches. Your wage level is not a fixed property of your degree — it follows from the occupation the role maps to, where the job is located, and what the employer offers. All three are job-search decisions, which is why this rule change is a career-planning problem as much as an immigration one.
What actually changed
DHS published a final rule titled Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions, effective 27 February 2026. It applies from the FY2027 cap season onward.
Under the previous process, when USCIS received more registrations than it needed, every eligible registration had an equal chance. Under the weighted process, when random selection is still required, each registration is entered into the pool a number of times determined by the OEWS wage level that the offered wage reaches:
| OEWS wage level | Entries in the selection pool |
|---|---|
| Level IV | 4 |
| Level III | 3 |
| Level II | 2 |
| Level I | 1 |
A Level IV registration is not guaranteed selection, and a Level I registration is not excluded — DHS was explicit that it wanted to preserve the opportunity for employers to hire at all wage levels. But a Level I entry now competes in a pool where other candidates hold two, three or four tickets each.
One person, one count
Where your wage level comes from
This is the part most explanations skip, and it is the part that matters to you. Your wage level is not assigned by your visa status, your university, or your GPA. It is the highest OEWS level that the offered wage equals or exceeds, for the relevant Standard Occupational Classification code, in the area of intended employment.
Unpack that and there are three separate inputs:
- The occupation. Every role maps to an SOC code. "Software Developer" and "Computer Systems Analyst" are different codes with different wage tables, even when the day-to-day work overlaps.
- The location. OEWS wage data is geographic. The same title in two metros has two different sets of level thresholds, and the gap between them is often wider than people expect.
- The offered wage. What the employer actually puts in the petition, measured against the four thresholds for that occupation in that place.
The Department of Labor's guidance describes the four levels as running from entry through fully competent, with the determination made by comparing the employer's requirements — education, training, experience, skills and the tasks involved — against the occupational norms for that code. In other words, the level describes the job, not the person applying for it.
That is the whole point. If wage level followed from your credentials, there would be nothing to do about it. Because it follows from the job, it moves when your job search moves.
The three levers you actually control
Seaggle's three-lever framework
None of these are tricks, and none of them involve asking an employer to misstate anything. They are ordinary job-search decisions that happen to carry more weight than they used to.
Lever 1 — Which occupation you target
Two adjacent roles you are qualified for can sit in different SOC codes with materially different wage tables. If you are choosing between a data analyst posting and a data engineer posting and you could credibly do either, the classification is now a real input into that decision, alongside everything you were already weighing.
Lever 2 — Which metros you will accept
Geographic flexibility has always been an advantage in a U.S. job search. It now compounds: a wider set of acceptable locations means more postings, and the wage thresholds attached to those postings vary by area. Ruling out everywhere except one metro narrows both at once.
Lever 3 — What level of role you can credibly win
This is the lever with the longest lead time and the largest effect. Level follows from the seniority and requirements of the position. Clearing a more senior bar is a preparation problem — demonstrable depth in a specialisation, evidence you can point at, and an interview performance that supports the level. That work takes months, which is why it starts before the search rather than during it.
What this is not
The path that skips the cap entirely
H-1B workers petitioned for or employed at an institution of higher education, an affiliated or related nonprofit entity, a nonprofit research organisation, or a governmental research organisation are not subject to the numerical cap at all. No registration, no lottery, no weighting.
For research-adjacent and technical people this route is chronically under-searched, largely because candidates filter job boards by company name rather than by employer type. University research groups, affiliated teaching hospitals and nonprofit research institutes hire engineers, data people and analysts. Whether a specific employer qualifies is a legal question for them and their counsel — but knowing the category exists is what puts those postings into your search in the first place.
What to do with this
Before your next application cycle
- Write down the two or three SOC-code occupations your target roles actually map to, rather than assuming one title covers your whole search.
- Decide honestly which metros you would accept, and check what that list does to the volume of roles available to you.
- Look up current OEWS wage levels for those occupations in those areas through the Department of Labor's public wage data, so you are working from figures rather than impressions.
- Name the gap between the level of role you apply to now and the one you could credibly interview for in six months — and the specific evidence that would close it.
- Add cap-exempt employer categories to your search: universities, affiliated nonprofits, and research institutes.
- Keep a list of genuinely legal questions for a licensed immigration attorney, and stop trying to answer those from forum threads.
Questions people actually ask
Does the weighted process mean entry-level candidates cannot get H-1B?
No. DHS kept Level I registrations in the pool deliberately, stating it wanted to preserve the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels. A Level I registration receives one entry rather than none. What changed is the relative position: others in the same pool now hold up to four entries each.
When does the FY2028 registration period open?
USCIS announces each cap season's dates in advance on its H-1B Cap Season page. For FY2027 the registration period opened on 4 March 2026, selection notifications went out by 31 March 2026, and petition filing for selected registrations began on 1 April 2026. Check the USCIS page for confirmed FY2028 dates rather than assuming the pattern repeats.
If several employers register me, do I get more entries?
Not toward the cap count. Each unique beneficiary is counted once toward the numerical allocation regardless of how many registrations were submitted or how many times they were entered into the pool. That beneficiary-centric rule is separate from the wage weighting.
Do STEM OPT students get more chances at the cap?
The relevant mechanism is duration rather than a special allowance: a longer authorised period of post-completion practical training can overlap more than one cap season, so a candidate may be registered in more than one year. Eligibility, timing and extension rules depend on your status and your designated school official, and specifics should be confirmed with your DSO and a licensed immigration attorney.
Is a master's degree still an advantage?
The advanced degree exemption is a separate allocation of 20,000 alongside the 65,000 regular cap, and it continues to exist. It is a different mechanism from wage weighting, and the two operate together rather than one replacing the other. How they interact in a given season is described in the USCIS cap season guidance.
Does Seaggle sponsor H-1B visas?
No. Seaggle does not sponsor visas, file petitions, or provide immigration advice. Career Support is job-search and interview preparation. Any question about your petition, status or eligibility belongs with a licensed immigration attorney.
Sources
- 1.Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions (final rule)Federal Register / DHS · retrieved 30 August 2026
- 2.DHS Changes Process for Awarding H-1B Work VisasUSCIS · retrieved 30 August 2026
- 3.H-1B Cap SeasonUSCIS · retrieved 30 August 2026
- 4.Prevailing Wage Determination Policy Guidance, Nonagricultural Immigration ProgramsU.S. Department of Labor, ETA · retrieved 30 August 2026
- 5.Prevailing Wage Information and ResourcesU.S. Department of Labor · retrieved 30 August 2026
When this gets reviewed. Any DHS or USCIS amendment to the weighted selection process, publication of FY2027 selection data broken down by wage level, or the opening of the FY2028 registration period (expected March 2027). We review on events rather than on a calendar, and we do not change a publication date to make a page look fresh.