H-1B Lottery Odds Calculator by Wage Level (FY 2027)

Short answer. The H-1B lottery is now weighted by wage level: a Level IV offer gets four entries and Level I gets one. DHS’s own model puts one attempt at about 15% for Level I, 31% for Level II, 46% for Level III and 61% for Level IV. Three attempts at Level II come to about 67%.

H-1B Lottery Odds Calculator

Wage level of your offer

Ask your employer which level they will register you at.

Lottery attempts you will get

One registration season a year, each March.

How crowded the draw is

Your own figure (% chance under the old draw)

Only used if you pick My own figure.

Where you will be when the petition is filed

Your highest degree

Your wage level

Entries in the draw

Chance in one attempt

Chance across your attempts

Under the old random draw

The USD 100,000 payment

Pick your wage level.

Uses DHS’s own method from the final rule of 29 December 2025: your chance in one draw is your number of entries times the old random-draw chance, divided by 1.935, the average entries per person in DHS’s model. It is an estimate, not a USCIS figure, and it assumes your level stays the same every year.

How the weighted lottery works

DHS changed the selection rule on 29 December 2025, and it took effect on 27 February 2026, in time for the FY 2027 registration season in March 2026. When there are more registrations than visas, USCIS now runs a weighted draw instead of a plain random one.

Your entries depend on your wage level. Level IV goes into the pool four times, Level III three times, Level II twice and Level I once.
The level is set by your offer, not your CV. It is the highest of the four Department of Labor wage levels your salary meets for your job code in your city.
You still count once. However many entries you have, you use only one place if you are picked.
The lowest level wins. If you will work in more than one location, or your salary is a range, the employer must register the lowest level that applies.
Below Level I still counts as Level I. An offer under the Level I wage, backed by another lawful wage source, is registered at Level I.

The cap itself has not changed: 65,000 regular places and 20,000 for people with a US master's or higher. USCIS has said both were reached for FY 2027.

Your odds by wage level

These are DHS's own estimates from the final rule, with the two and three attempt figures worked out from them. They assume you stay at the same level each year.

Wage level	Entries	One attempt	Two attempts	Three attempts
Level I	1	15.3%	28.2%	39.2%
Level II	2	30.6%	51.8%	66.5%
Level III	3	45.9%	70.7%	84.1%
Level IV	4	61.2%	84.9%	94.1%
Old random draw, for comparison	1	29.6%	50.4%	65.1%

DHS final rule, 90 FR 60948, 29 December 2025. Multi-attempt figures are our arithmetic.

The honest read for an Indian student: Level II is roughly where everyone stood before, and Level I is where you lose. DHS expects Level I selections to fall by about 48% and Level IV selections to roughly double. A Level I graduate with three STEM OPT attempts now has about a 39% chance in total, against 65% under the old draw.

Why the same salary can land on different levels

The four wage levels are set for each job code and each area. So an offer that counts as Level II in one city can be Level I in a pricier one, and the same salary can sit at different levels for a software developer and a data scientist. That is why you cannot read your level from your salary alone.

Find your job code. Your employer chooses the occupation code for your role. Ask which one.
Look up the four wages. The Department of Labor's FLAG wage search shows Level I to IV wages for that code in your county.
Compare your offer. Your level is the highest one your salary equals or beats. The calculator above does this if you choose Work it out from my salary.

Faz's rule
Ask your employer which wage level they will register you at before you accept the offer, not after.
Two offers with the same headline salary can carry very different lottery odds. A role in a cheaper city, or one coded as a different occupation, can put you a level higher. Your employer has to show evidence for the level it registers, so it can tell you before March. If you are choosing between offers, that one question is worth asking.

The USD 100,000 payment, and why it usually is not yours

A presidential proclamation required a USD 100,000 payment on certain H-1B petitions filed from 21 September 2025. USCIS says it applies to people outside the United States without a valid H-1B visa. It does not apply to a petition asking for a change of status for someone inside the US, as long as the change is granted. If you are on F-1 or OPT and your employer files to change your status, you are outside it.

On 8 June 2026 a federal court in Massachusetts set aside USCIS's guidance on the payment, and on 24 July 2026 the appeals court refused to pause that ruling. DHS says it is following the order but plans to collect the payment again if the order is lifted. So if you will be abroad when the petition is filed, check the USCIS page first.

How crowded the draw has been

Fiscal year	Eligible registrations	Selected	Share selected
FY 2023	474,421	127,600	26.9%
FY 2024	758,994	188,400	24.8%
FY 2025	470,342	135,137	28.7%
FY 2026	343,981	120,141	34.9%

USCIS, H-1B Electronic Registration Process, page updated 21 September 2026. FY 2023 and FY 2024 allowed several registrations per person.

FY 2025 was the first year USCIS counted each person once, which is why the share selected jumped. USCIS had not published FY 2027 registration totals when we checked, so the calculator lets you pick the FY 2026 or FY 2025 level, or enter your own.

Your lottery attempts come from your OPT. Our OPT calculator works out your dates and how many March seasons they cover, and the OPT and STEM OPT guide covers cap gap. To check whether the US still pays back on a Level I outcome, read is studying in the USA worth it, and compare the other countries in the post study work guide.

Questions people ask

What are my H-1B lottery chances in 2027?

It depends on your wage level. DHS estimates one attempt at about 15% for Level I, 31% for Level II, 46% for Level III and 61% for Level IV, if registrations stay at the levels it modelled. Fewer registrations would push every level up.

How does the H-1B weighted lottery work?

Each person is entered once for Level I, twice for Level II, three times for Level III and four times for Level IV, based on how the offered salary compares with Department of Labor wages for the job and area. Each person still counts only once if picked.

Can a fresh graduate still get an H-1B?

Yes. Level I is still in the draw, at about half the old odds. A Level II offer, the most common level for computing jobs in DHS data, keeps you near the old odds, and a US master's adds a second chance in the advanced degree draw.

Does the USD 100,000 H-1B fee apply to F-1 students?

Not if you are inside the US and your employer's petition asks for a change of status that is granted. USCIS says the payment is for people outside the US without a valid H-1B visa, and a court set aside its guidance in June 2026.

How do I find my H-1B wage level?

Ask your employer for the job's occupation code, then look up the four wage levels for that code and your county in the Department of Labor's FLAG wage search. Your level is the highest one your offered salary equals or exceeds.

Where these rules come from

Checked in November 2026. The odds are estimates from DHS's model, not a USCIS promise, and the real figures depend on how many people register each March.