Q: How does the new wage-level H-1B lottery change the game for employers and foreign professionals?
A: The H-1B visa program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign professionals in specialty occupations, which typically require at least a bachelor’s degree. For FY 2027, the H-1B registration period opened on March 4, 2026 and closed on March 19, 2026. Each year, Congress makes available 65,000 regular H-1B visas, plus an additional 20,000 H-1B visas for individuals holding a master’s degree or higher. As H-1B candidates consistently outnumber available H-1B visas each year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has long relied on a lottery system to determine which employers may file an H-1B petition for a selected beneficiary. As of February 27, 2026, that lottery is no longer purely luck of the draw.
Under the new wage-level lottery system, compensation now plays a much larger role. Instead of each H-1B registration receiving a single lottery entry, the new weighted process assigns multiple lottery entries based on the position’s wage level. Under the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics four-tier wage system, entry-level jobs are generally classified as Level I, while more advanced and independent positions fall under Level IV. Level IV registrations receive four entries, Level III receive three, Level II receive two, and Level I receive one. Put simply, the higher the wage level, the better the odds of selection.
This is a major shift for both employers and foreign professionals. For employers, job classification, salary strategy, and prevailing wage data now matter even more at the H-1B registration stage. That matters in part because the DOL’s wage levels do not necessarily reflect actual wages, and the wage level used for lottery selection is different from the wage analysis used later in the H-1B petition process. For foreign professionals, stronger compensation and more senior-level roles may improve the likelihood of selection. At the same time, the system still preserves a path for sponsorship at every wage level, including entry-level roles.
To determine the DOL’s wage level at the registration stage, employers should identify the proper Standard Occupational Classification code, often by using O*NET online (www.onetonline.org), confirm the area of intended employment, and compare the prevailing wage for all four levels in DOL’s Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (www.flcdatacenter.com). The applicable wage level is the highest level that the proffered salary equals or exceeds.
Consider the following example:
Position: Lawyer
SOC Code: 23-1011.00
Location: Manchester, New Hampshire
Offered Salary: $150,000.00
OEWS Prevailing Wages (July 2025 – June 2026)
- Level I: $83,803.00
- Level II: $135,866.00
- Level III: $187,907.00
- Level IV: $239,970.00
In this example, for a lawyer in Manchester, New Hampshire, an offered salary of $150,000.00 places the role at Level II because it exceeds the Level II wage of $135,866.00 but does not reach the Level III wage of $187,907.00. As a result, the position falls under Wage Level II, and the employer’s H-1B registration for the beneficiary would receive two lottery entries in the selection pool.