FY 2025 H-1B Cap Registration Statistics, Eligible Registrations Plunge by almost 40% — Visa Lawyer Blog — May 2, 2024
New fraud prevention mechanisms applied to the H-1B program in fiscal year 2025 have led to a dramatic decrease in the number of eligible registrations for H-1B cap visas, plunging to almost 40% from the past year.
These fraud prevention mechanisms were introduced with the final rule “Improving the H-1B Registration Selection Process and Program Integrity,” which changed the H-1B selection process to center around unique beneficiaries, preventing employers from gaming the system and unfairly increasing their chances of selection.
Starting this fiscal year, each beneficiary could only be registered under one passport or travel document to prevent the submission of multiple registrations.
Recent USCIS data suggests that these new changes to the H-1B system were successful at combating fraud. The agency recently released its selection statistics for the fiscal year 2025 H-1B cap season.
The data shows a significant drop in the number of eligible registrations for fiscal year 2025 totaling 470,342—representing a 38.6% reduction when compared to the 758,994 eligible registrations received in fiscal year 2024.
Of these eligible registrations (470,342), USCIS selected 114,017 beneficiaries, resulting in a total of 120,603 selected registrations for fiscal year 2025.
The number of workers who were registered did not change significantly at 442,000 when compared with 446,000 last year.
The chart below shows registration and selection numbers for fiscal years 2021-2025 (as of April 12, 2024).
The data indicates that the number of eligible registrations in fiscal year 2025 more closely resembles those from fiscal year 2023.
*The count of eligible registrations excludes duplicate registrations, those deleted by the prospective employer prior to the close of the registration period, and those with failed payments.
**The number of initial selections for FY 2024 – 110, 791 – was smaller in than in prior years primarily due to (a) establishing a higher anticipated petition filing rate by selected registrants based on prior years; and (b) higher projected Department of State approvals of H-1B1 visas, which count against the H-1B cap.
***The number of initial selections for FY 2025 – 120,603 – was smaller than in prior years primarily due to establishing a higher anticipated petition filing rate based on the beneficiary-centric selection process (i.e. selection by unique beneficiary). USCIS selected the number of unique beneficiaries projected as needed to reach the congressionally mandated caps and exemptions. All properly submitted registrations for those beneficiaries that were selected were set to a selected status. Accordingly, the number of selected registrations was higher than the number of selected beneficiaries and this number is not completely comparable to prior years that used a direct registration selection method.
What does the plunge in eligible registrations mean?
In general, this data shows that the agency’s fraud prevention mechanisms have deterred registrants from seeking to gain an unfair advantage, especially when compared with the past year. The decrease in eligible registrations also demonstrates that the beneficiary centric system has been effective at combating fraud in the registration process.
USCIS has said that it has conducted fraud investigations and denied or revoked petitions that have been found to have abused H-1B program regulations. Where appropriate, the agency has also referred cases to law enforcement for criminal prosecution.
We welcome these positive changes to the H-1B program including recent changes that have allowed H-1B cap petitions to be filed online, making the process more streamlined and effective.
Contact Us. If you were selected in the H-1B lottery, and need assistance filing your H-1B petition with USCIS we are here to serve you. If you would like to schedule a consultation, please text 619-569-1768 or call 619-819-9204.
Helpful Links
JOIN OUR NEW FACEBOOK GROUP
Need more immigration updates? We have created a new facebook group to address the impact of the new executive order and other changing developments related to COVID-19. Follow us there.
For other COVID 19 related immigration updates please visit our Immigration and COVID-19 Resource Center here.
