- Friday, May 16, 2025
This is slightly lower than the 135,137 selected for FY2025, and substantially lower than 188,400 approved for FY2024
By: India Weekly
THOUGH Trump administration considers America First to be one of the cornerstones of their policies, H1-B visas continue to be in demand, though there has been a gradual decline in overall numbers from previous years.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) newly published data shows that 120,141 H-1B visas have been granted so far for the fiscal year 2026.
This is lower than the 135,137 selected for FY2025, and substantially lower than 188,400 approved for FY2024.
However, it is still higher than the H-1B annual limit of 65,000, plus a 20,000 exemption for individuals with an advanced degree from a US university.
For the past two decades, employers have exhausted the quota every year.
H-1B is the visa program that allows US companies to hire skilled immigrants from outside.
Indian engineers, data scientists, and software developers make up the largest share of H-1B recipients each year.
The registration period was open from March 7 to March 24, and the USCIS received 343,981 eligible H-1B registrations, out of which 7,828 were for beneficiaries with multiple registrations.
This is 26.9 per cent less than the eligible registrations in the previous fiscal (470,342), and beneficiaries with multiple registrations has come down over 83 per cent (47,314).
The total number of individuals seeking new H-1B visas also fell.
There were approximately 336,000 eligible unique beneficiaries this year, down from around 423,000 last year.
The drop in registrations has been attributed to higher immigration fees and USCIS measures to curb the misuse of the lottery system.
The Biden administration had raised the fees for filing an H-1B registration for FY 2026 from $10 to $215.
USCIS has revised rules to ensure that each worker has an equal chance of selection, regardless of how many times different employers submit applications on their behalf.
H1-B visas has been a contentious topic among the Republican, with MAGA supporters Laura Loomer and Steve Bannon claiming it allows US companies to hire skilled immigrants and it should be stopped in favor of America First.
However, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami support H1-B visas and argue that it is essential to attract the best of the talent, as the US falls short in many of the specialized fields.
