Why Getting an H-1B Visa is Tricky and What’s Changing in Future from fy Watch Video

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✓ Published: 06-Jun-2024

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Why Getting an H-1B Visa is Tricky and What’s Changing in Future<br/>The H-1B lottery registration window and selections are fast approaching. H-1B selections are by chance, but last year’s success rate was particularly hard. We will talk about why in a minute — since then, some changes have been made by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to “improve” the process ahead of the 2024 selections.<br/><br/>A Quick H-1B Recap<br/>H-1B is an employer-sponsored visa that allows a person who is not a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. to work in a “specialty occupation” for up to six (6) years. It is a non-immigrant visa category in the United States that allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in “specialized occupations.” It is one of the most popular/sought-after visas for foreign professionals dreaming or planning to work in the U.S. The demand, stringent requirements, and a limited annual cap make it difficult to obtain. As we approach March 2024, changes have been created by USCIS, reshaping the process for prospective visa applicants.<br/><br/>Why the 2023 Selection Was More Difficult<br/>The H-1B Lottery<br/>If you are unfamiliar with this process, you might think after a person submits and files their petition, they get an H-1B visa, but that is not the case. Getting selected for an H1-B visa is a lottery (literally). There is an annual cap, and only 85,000 people are selected annually. This 85,000 is a general quota of 65,000 and 20,000 visas for foreign nationals with an advanced degree. The selection difficulty?<br/><br/>Multiple Registrations<br/>Multiple registrations are among the biggest reasons the 2023 selection (FY 2024) was more difficult. It is not illegal during the H-1B visa process for one worker to have multiple submissions/registrations, i.e., if I got a job at company X, they could file an H-1B petition for me. Company J could also do the same if I received an offer from them. Some workers have more than 2 registrations (to improve their chances of getting selected for the visa.) In FY 2021 (2020), out of 269,424 total eligible registrations, 241,299 were eligible for beneficiaries with no other eligible registrations, while 28,125 were for those with multiple registrations, resulting in 124,415 selections.<br/><br/>So, two things are happening here: the number of eligible workers petitioning for a visa increases yearly, which already reduces the probability of success, and then a fraction of those workers proceed with multiple registrations, further reducing the likelihood of success/selections.<br/><br/>Similar trends exist in FY 2022 and 2023 (2021 & 2022). Looking at last year’s data (FY 2024 = 2023), the H-1B visa landscape is marked by a substantial surge in total registrations, reaching 780,884 — an increase of 61%. Notably, 350,103 registrations are eligible for beneficiaries with no other eligible registrations, while 408,891 are for those with multiple registrations. However, the selections have decreased to 110,791.