The H-1B registration period for the financial year 2025 opened on March 6th, 2024. USCIS is expecting around 350,000 applications for the H-1B visas which is almost 50 percent of the last financial year’s numbers. For the year 2024, USCIS received 758,994 registrations and among them 408,891 applications were duplicates.
Due to the changes made by the USCIS, the applications were cut down in half. USCIS has taken this decision to prevent the fraud in the lottery system. Earlier, employers used to register multiple times for an employee some of them even entering the registrations 20 times. This system is used to favor the multiple submissions in the lottery.
However, now the changes are made such that only one submission will be taken into account for one applicant. With multiple employers registering for the same candidate who have multiple job offers, the selected beneficiary can select his employer. This will increase his bargaining power. It is surely a setback for the employer who spends so much on the application. Also, the fees for the visa petitions are increasing effecting from April 1st.
