{"id":1295114,"date":"2025-05-16T10:30:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/?p=1295114"},"modified":"2025-05-16T10:31:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T05:01:31","slug":"65-h-1b-visa-applications-rejected-us-govt-gets-27-less-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/65-h-1b-visa-applications-rejected-us-govt-gets-27-less-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"65% H-1B Visa Applications Rejected; US Govt Gets 27% Less Applications"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released new data showing a <strong>27% drop in H-1B cap registrations<\/strong> for fiscal year 2026. This marks a major shift, driven largely by a <strong>massive fee hike\u2014from $10 to $215 per application<\/strong>\u2014as well as <strong>stricter policies<\/strong> targeting duplicate entries for the same individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/h1b-Visa-001-1280x720-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"65% H-1B Visa Applications Rejected; US Govt Gets 27% Less Applications\" class=\"wp-image-1295130\" srcset=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/h1b-Visa-001-1280x720-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/h1b-Visa-001-1280x720-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/h1b-Visa-001-1280x720-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/h1b-Visa-001-1280x720-1.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Despite Fewer Entries, Most Applicants Rejected Again<\/strong><br>Out of 343,981 eligible registrations, <strong>only 120,141 were selected<\/strong>, meaning <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/stuartanderson\/2025\/05\/15\/h-1b-visa-cap-results-65-rejected-immigration-fees-prompt-decline\/\">65% were rejected<\/a><\/strong> due to the annual limit of 85,000 new H-1B visas (including the 20,000 exemption for U.S. advanced degrees). This is despite the overall number of entries being significantly lower than in FY 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key Trends This Year:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Average registrations per employer dropped<\/strong> from 8.9 to 6.0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Unique employers increased<\/strong> from ~52,700 to ~57,600<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The new <strong>beneficiary-centric model<\/strong> curbed duplicate filings but led to a smaller applicant pool<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Second rounds of selection are <strong>unlikely<\/strong> due to employers filing only for serious candidates<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Experts: Fees Aren\u2019t the Only Reason<\/strong><br>Immigration experts say the <strong>higher filing cost<\/strong> forced companies to think more strategically about whom they enter into the lottery. But others point to broader issues, including <strong>uncertainty around immigration policy<\/strong>, and new USCIS reforms to <strong>eliminate multiple entries for the same individual<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe most substantial factor behind the drop was the combination of USCIS reforms and political uncertainty,\u201d said Vic Goel of Goel &amp; Anderson.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Harsh Reality Of The H-1B System<\/strong><br>Even with fewer entries, <strong>75% of applicants will not receive H-1B status<\/strong> this year. In contrast, other visa categories like the H-2A (agricultural) and J-1 (exchange visitor) boast approval rates over 89% and 96% respectively. This underscores how <strong>restrictive and competitive<\/strong> the H-1B program remains for highly skilled workers, including AI engineers and graduate students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Looking Ahead<\/strong><br>Experts urge employers to plan ahead\u2014especially for international students on Optional Practical Training (OPT)\u2014and prepare entries for the next lottery cycle in March. The talent shortage is pushing many companies to consider <strong>alternative visa options or even offshoring<\/strong> jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cH-1B restrictions don\u2019t save U.S. jobs\u2014they send them overseas,\u201d said economist Britta Glennon.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released new data showing a 27% drop in H-1B cap registrations for fiscal year 2026. This marks a major shift, driven largely by a massive fee hike\u2014from $10 to $215 per application\u2014as well as stricter policies targeting duplicate entries for the same individual. Despite Fewer Entries, Most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":1295130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[282],"class_list":["post-1295114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-h1b-visa"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>65% H-1B Visa Applications Rejected; US Govt Gets 27% Less Applications - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/65-h-1b-visa-applications-rejected-us-govt-gets-27-less-applications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"65% H-1B Visa Applications Rejected; US Govt Gets 27% Less Applications - Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released new data showing a 27% drop in H-1B cap registrations for fiscal year 2026. This marks a major shift, driven largely by a massive fee hike\u2014from $10 to $215 per application\u2014as well as stricter policies targeting duplicate entries for the same individual. Despite Fewer Entries, Most [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/65-h-1b-visa-applications-rejected-us-govt-gets-27-less-applications\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Trak.in - Indian Business of Tech, Mobile &amp; Startups\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-16T05:00:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-16T05:01:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/h1b-Visa-001-1280x720-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mohul Ghosh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mohul Ghosh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/65-h-1b-visa-applications-rejected-us-govt-gets-27-less-applications\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/trak.in\/stories\/65-h-1b-visa-applications-rejected-us-govt-gets-27-less-applications\/\",\"name\":\"65% H-1B Visa Applications Rejected; 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