09 May Fiscal Year 2025 H-1B Visa Cap Registration Process Update
As announced on April 1, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) completed the selection process for fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B visa cap registrations, including the master’s cap, and notified selected petitioners to proceed with filing their H-1B visa cap-subject petitions.
USCIS has now published the data for this initial registration period, and they have selected 114,017 beneficiaries, resulting in 120,603 selected registrations.
USCIS saw a significant decrease in the total number of registrations submitted compared to FY 2024, including a decrease in the number of registrations submitted on behalf of beneficiaries with multiple registrations. Interestingly, the number of eligible registrations fell dramatically for FY 2025 with 470,342 applications compared to 758,994 applications in 2024.
According to USCIS, the data from the start of the registration period for the FY 2025 H-1B visa cap suggests a significant decrease in attempts to gain an unfair advantage compared to previous years. This is largely attributed to the beneficiary-centric selection process introduced under the final rule on Improving the H-1B Registration Selection Process and Program Integrity. USCIS are currently reviewing the FY 2025 data for any signs of unfair advantage-seeking within the beneficiary-centric framework and will take corresponding actions.
Details:
- USCIS news release (April 30, 2024).
This is posting is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal advice. If you require further assistance or advice relating to the above, please contact our Principal Lawyer, Janice Flynn at janice@flynnhodkinson.com.