Annual H-1B Visa Lottery Registration Starts Today (March 7, 2025)
The 2025 H-1B visa lottery registration period starts today, March 7, 2025, at 12pm EST and runs until 12pm EST on March 24. The government issues 85,000 H-1B visa numbers each year, 20,000 of which are set aside specifically for US masters degree holders. This is the one and only opportunity each year for employers to secure a chance to sponsor their talented foreign professionals for a longer term work visa. Interested employers can register any number of foreign professionals over the next two weeks, and USCIS will notify employers about any selected registrants by the end of March. These employers will then have 90 days, from April 1, 2025 until June 30, 2025, to file an H-1B visa petition with USCIS. Upon approval of the H-1B petition, the worker can start H-1B employment from October 1, 2025. To qualify for an H-1B visa, the foreign professional must (1) undertake a “specialty occupation” designated as a professional level job requiring a minimum of a bachelor degree in a specifi...