Fiscal Year 2024 H-1B Registrations: Over 50% of Registrants with Multiple Visa Offers

Last week, USCIS announced that it had reached the H-1B cap of 65,000 visas under the regular cap and 20,000 visas for those with an advanced degree for fiscal year 2024.[1]  As a result, many employers who had filed registrations back in March are now being notified of their final non-selection for the visas, months after they hoped their H1B employee would start work. While the system is a lottery, some employers may nevertheless be curious to know some of the numbers behind the curtains to better understand what their odds were.

This fiscal year, employers filed 780,884 registrations for H-1B visas, nearly 300,000 more registrations than fiscal year 2023.[2] However, this does not mean that over 300,000 new eligible candidates entered the market this year. 408,891 (over 50%) of the registrations were for employees with multiple eligible registrations.[3] So long as there is a legitimate job offer, any number of employers may register for the same individual, thereby increasing that individual’s odds of being selected. Since fiscal year 2021, the percentage of employees with multiple registrations has increased year over year, with FY21 seeing 10% of registrations for employees with multiple eligible registrations, FY22 at 29%, and FY23 at 34%.[4]

Many have noticed this dramatic increase in registrations and believe foul play is afoot— rumors swirl of companies allegedly creating duplicitous agreements amongst themselves or establishing shell organizations to enter multiple registrations for the same individual. USCIS has responded to the increases and begun fraud investigations, sometimes referring fraudulent employers to law enforcement for criminal prosecution.[5] However, some of the employers swept up in these investigations have nevertheless been completely legitimate and within accordance of the regulations. While USCIS believes these investigations are having an impact on fraudulent H-1B filings, the year-over-year growth of multi-registrations hasn’t stopped yet. Perhaps this means that there is truly less fraud abound than the numbers indicate and H1B employees have grown privy to increasing their own odds by pursuing multiple concurrent H-1B job opportunities. Or perhaps USCIS has much more work to do.

[1] https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/uscis-reaches-fiscal-year-2024-h-1b-cap

[2] https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations-and-fashion-models/h-1b-electronic-registration-process

[3] Id.

[4] Id.

[5] Id.