USCIS Makes H-1B Selections for Fiscal 2025

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that 114,017 registrations for H-1B visas were selected from approximately 442,000 submissions to begin work in fiscal year (FY) 2025.

The agency selected about 26 percent of those who registered to meet the annual H-1B visa quota of 85,000. All those selected must have a petition filed by June 30.

The selection rates are comparable to prior years, with 25 percent of eligible registrations selected during the FY 2024 season and 27 percent in the FY 2023 season.

The agency reported that it received 479,953 registrations overall—including duplicates—this year, a decline of 39 percent from last year’s record-breaking 780,884 registrations.

According to USCIS, the decline is due to the new worker-centric selection process, which aims to deter fraudulent practices that manipulate the system through the submission of multiple applications.

USCIS changed the process in response to last year’s concerns regarding misuse of the system and to reduce the incentive for employers to collaborate to submit multiple registrations on behalf of the same person, unfairly increasing that person’s chance of selection while reducing other workers’ chances.

“With the surge in cap lottery submissions since the introduction of online registration in 2020, we’ve witnessed a persistent decline in selection rates for the H-1B cap lottery as individuals submit multiple registrations to enhance their chances of success,” said Mahsa Aliaskari, an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth. “As USCIS aimed to curb abuse in the registration process, the beneficiary-centric selection method seems to have yielded a notable decrease in eligible registrations, marking a positive and favorable development.”

USCIS stated that anti-fraud measures have made a difference. The organization noted that the number of employers submitting registrations for FY 2025 (approximately 52,700) was comparable to FY 2024 (approximately 52,000), and the number of workers being registered was also similar to FY 2024 (approximately 446,000). The number of multiple registrations for the same worker decreased significantly, though, resulting in a big drop in overall registrations.

“Our initial data suggests that there were far fewer attempts than last year to gain an unfair advantage owing in large measure to the implementation of the beneficiary-centric selection process,” USCIS said.

The agency emphasized its commitment to maintaining anti-fraud measures in H-1B selection.

“Based on evidence from the FY 2023 and FY 2024 H-1B cap seasons, we have undertaken extensive fraud investigations, denied and revoked petitions accordingly, and continue to make law enforcement referrals for criminal prosecution,” USCIS said. “We are also reviewing the FY 2025 data for any attempts to gain an unfair advantage through the beneficiary-centric selection process. If applicable, we will deny or revoke any petitions and make law enforcement referrals for criminal prosecution accordingly.”