H‑1B registration drop
- FY2024 saw about 408,000 duplicate H‑1B registrations from consulting firms, which dropped after a FY2025 ban to roughly 47,000. (x.com) - Overall H‑1B applications fell around 43% to an estimated 195,000–235,000, while selection rates increased. (x.com) - The shift has intensified calls to raise salary minimums and renewed criticism that OPT displaces U.S. jobs. (x.com) (x.com)
The H-1B lottery got much smaller after the government stopped counting multiple entries for the same worker as multiple chances to win. (uscis.gov) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services switched to a beneficiary-centric system for fiscal year 2025, selecting by unique person rather than by registration. The rule took effect on March 4, 2024, and USCIS said it was designed to reduce “gaming the system.” (federalregister.gov) Before that change, fiscal year 2024 registrations were chosen from registrations themselves, not unique workers. USCIS later said fiscal year 2025 would use the new beneficiary-based method and reached the cap with registrations for unique beneficiaries. (uscis.gov 1) (uscis.gov 2) The drop was steep. USCIS data cited by immigration lawyers and Bloomberg Law showed eligible registrations fell from 758,994 in fiscal year 2024 to 470,342 in fiscal year 2025, while the number of unique beneficiaries moved only slightly, from about 446,000 to about 442,000. (ogletree.com) (news.bloomberglaw.com) That gap showed how much of the prior year’s surge came from repeat filings for the same people, often through multiple employers. Bloomberg Law reported registrations for workers with multiple submissions dropped by more than 88% after the overhaul. (news.bloomberglaw.com) The H-1B program covers specialty-occupation jobs that usually require at least a bachelor’s degree in a directly related field, and Congress still caps most new visas at 65,000 plus 20,000 for U.S. advanced-degree holders. Changing the lottery did not raise that cap; it changed who gets an equal shot at it. (uscis.gov) The registration process also got more expensive. USCIS raised the electronic registration fee to $215 for fiscal year 2026, up from $10 in earlier cap seasons. (uscis.gov) That higher fee was followed by another decline. Forbes, citing USCIS data, reported 343,981 eligible registrations for fiscal year 2026, down from 470,342 in fiscal year 2025. (forbes.com) The policy fight did not end with the duplicate-entry crackdown. The Biden administration’s 2024 H-1B modernization rule said the program should help employers fill specialty jobs while adding integrity measures, while critics kept pressing for higher wage floors and tighter limits on student work programs such as Optional Practical Training. (uscis.gov 1) (uscis.gov 2) The next change is already on the books. USCIS says a weighted selection rule that favors higher wage levels took effect on February 27, 2026, for the fiscal year 2027 cap season, moving the program beyond the duplicate-registration fix and into a new fight over pay. (uscis.gov)
