U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released new data confirming a significant decrease in the number of H-1B registrations submitted for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B cap. While the number of unique beneficiaries remained comparable to last year’s data, the number of eligible registrations substantially dropped—by more than 38 percent—from last year’s record highs.

Quick Hits

• The number of eligible H-1B registrations dropped dramatically, from 758,994 in FY 2024 to 470,342 in FY 2025.
• The number of unique beneficiaries registered in the annual H-1B lottery experienced a modest decrease, from 446,000 in FY 2024 to 442,000 in FY 2025.
• The number of unique employers submitting H-1B registrations rose slightly, from 52,000 in FY 2024 to 52,700 in FY 2025.

Ultimately, USCIS selected 114,017 unique beneficiaries, resulting in 120,603 selected H-1B registrations during the initial FY 2025 H-1B Lottery. This represents a selection rate of approximately 25.6 percent.

The USCIS data demonstrates that the agency’s increased fraud prevention activities, combined with FY 2025’s new “beneficiary-centric H-1B selection process,” are having a noticeable impact on reinstating integrity to the annual H-1B lottery.

USCIS notes that the agency remains committed to deterring and preventing fraud and abuse in the H-1B registration process, and it emphasizes that it has continued to undertake substantial steps to investigate, deny, and revoke fraudulently filed H-1B petitions. USCIS specifically states that the agency will continue to deny or revoke fraudulently filed H-1B petitions and will make law enforcement referrals for criminal prosecution, as needed.

Next Steps

For selected registrants, the H-1B petition filing period will close on June 30, 2024. USCIS has not yet announced whether there will be additional selection rounds for FY 2025.