Why H-1B Registrations Dropped After USCIS Fraud Crackdown

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services reported a 26.9% decline in eligible H-1B registrations for Fiscal Year 2026, with 343,981 submissions compared with 470,342 in FY 2025, as a beneficiary-centric selection system, higher fees and tougher verification rules cut duplicate filings and reshaped the annual lottery.

The agency also recorded 358,737 total registrations for FY 2026, down 29.6% from FY 2025’s 479,953, and said the lower volume marked the smallest pool in recent years. USCIS selected 120,141 registrations, producing a selection rate of about 35% on unique beneficiaries.

That drop followed a broader USCIS Fraud Crackdown that targeted duplicate and coordinated filings. Multiples fell to 7,828, or 2.3% of 343,981 eligible registrations, from 47,314, or 10%, a year earlier.

How the H-1B Program Works

The H-1B program lets U.S. employers hire foreign workers in specialty occupations that require at least a bachelor’s degree or equivalent. The visa is widely used in technology, healthcare, finance and academia, and annual demand continues to exceed the statutory cap of 85,000 visas, made up of 65,000 general slots and 20,000 for advanced U.S. degree holders.

USCIS changed the lottery beginning with FY 2025 by shifting to a beneficiary-centric process that counts each unique worker once, even if several employers submit registrations for that person. The agency paired that change with passport or travel document verification and a fee increase, moves designed to curb speculative filings and reduce opportunities for abuse.

The annual registration period typically takes place in March for jobs that begin on October 1. In recent years, the lottery had drawn outsized scrutiny because some employers submitted multiple registrations tied to the same worker, increasing the odds for those beneficiaries and distorting the process for others.

FY 2026 Registration Trends

For FY 2026, unique beneficiaries fell 20.5% to 336,153 from 423,028. Average registrations per beneficiary also slipped to 1.01 from 1.06, while the number of unique employers remained roughly steady at about 57,600, up slightly from 52,700.

Those figures suggest that employer participation held up even as the overall registration count dropped sharply. With fewer duplicate filings in the pool, legitimate candidates saw better odds.

The improvement stands out against the previous two years. In FY 2024, USCIS received 780,884 total registrations and 758,994 eligible registrations, with 350,103 unique beneficiaries and 408,891 multiples. The agency selected 188,400 registrations, and the selection rate on unique beneficiaries stood at about 24.8%.

By FY 2025, total registrations had dropped to 479,953 and eligible registrations to 470,342, while unique beneficiaries rose to 423,028. Multiples fell to 47,314 and selected registrations to 135,137, pushing the selection rate to about 29%.

FY 2026 extended that pattern. With 358,737 total registrations, 343,981 eligible registrations, 336,153 unique beneficiaries and 7,828 multiples, the system moved farther away from the spike in duplicate filings seen in FY 2024.

USCIS has not confirmed further selections beyond two rounds tied to the FY 2026 cap. Petition filings for selected cases ran from April 1 to June 30, 2025.

Why the Numbers Fell

Several changes drove the lower count. The biggest was the beneficiary-centric lottery, which removed much of the incentive for groups of related or cooperating employers to file repeat registrations for the same person. Under that model, each worker effectively receives one shot in the lottery regardless of the number of job offers.

The numbers show how sharply that changed behavior. USCIS data indicates 97.7% of eligible entries, or 336,153, had no duplicates.

The agency also tightened its anti-fraud posture. USCIS intensified investigations into coordinated filings, revoked petitions and referred cases for prosecution, raising the stakes for employers that tried to manipulate the system.

That effort gained another tool on March 9, 2026, when Matter of TEXPERTS, Inc., 29 I&N Dec. 491 (AAO 2026) established that employers cannot avoid fraud findings by withdrawing petitions. The decision said a withdrawal does not block the government from documenting misrepresentation for future denials, revocations or findings of inadmissibility.

That precedent matters for more than one filing season. It gives USCIS a way to pursue patterns involving shared personnel, identical job offers or related entities even after a petitioner tries to back away from a case.

Fees also played a role. The H-1B registration fee rose from $10 to $215 in FY 2025, sharply increasing the cost of submitting large volumes of speculative entries.

Mandatory passport and travel document matching added another layer. Those checks made it harder to submit false or duplicative registrations and easier for USCIS to screen out invalid entries early.

Economic conditions also appear to have contributed. Tech sector slowdowns and layoffs reduced hiring appetite even as demand remained well above the annual cap.

At the same time, a January 2025 H-1B modernization rule eased access for startups and H-1B-owned firms. That may help explain why the employer base stayed comparatively steady while total filings declined.

Effects on Workers and Employers

For workers, the most immediate effect of fewer duplicate registrations is better odds. With a selection rate of about 35% in FY 2026, the lottery offered materially better chances than the roughly 24.8% rate in FY 2024.

Even so, competition remains intense. Total registration volume still exceeded the 85,000 cap by more than four to one, leaving many qualified candidates without a slot.

The cleaner pool also changes how applicants and employers approach the process. Because one person now counts once in the lottery, foreign workers cannot rely on a web of registrations to improve their chances. That places more weight on securing a bona fide offer from a legitimate employer and on making sure every filing detail matches USCIS requirements.

Employers face a different calculation. They must weigh the $215 registration fee, the risk of fraud scrutiny and the recordkeeping needed to show that each filing reflects an independent, genuine hiring decision.

What Comes Next for FY 2027

That pressure could intensify. USCIS announced that the FY 2027 registration window will run from March 4–19, 2026, and the agency is preparing new rules that would further alter the selection process.

Among the most closely watched changes is a wage-weighted lottery. Instead of random selection, the new rules would tie odds to the Department of Labor’s four prevailing wage levels, with higher wages receiving more entries. A Level 4 wage, for example, would receive four times the odds.

Employers would need to attest to Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics wage levels at registration. If the wage level does not match the petition later filed, that mismatch could trigger denials or revocations.

The wage-weighted system would also address duplicate wage games by applying the lowest wage where multiple registrations involve the same beneficiary. That rule aims to discourage employers from inflating wage claims to boost lottery chances.

Another change would add a $100,000 consular fee for new cap-subject petitions involving beneficiaries abroad who require consular processing. The fee would not apply to change-of-status cases already inside the United States, such as F-1 students moving to H-1B status.

Those FY 2027 shifts arrive on top of continuing fraud reviews. USCIS is reviewing FY 2025 and FY 2026 data for revocations, adding another compliance layer for employers with questionable filing histories.

Universities and nonprofit employers, many of which are cap-exempt, sit outside the annual lottery for many positions. But their cap-subject hires could still benefit from a cleaner registration system if lower levels of manipulation make the annual selection process more predictable.

Broader Implications

The changes have drawn mixed reactions across the immigration system. Supporters argue the lower registration totals show that reforms are filtering out abuse rather than depressing genuine demand. Critics argue that higher costs and stricter rules create barriers for startups, smaller businesses and foreign talent seeking a path into the U.S. labor market.

The debate is likely to sharpen as the wage-weighted model approaches. Higher-paying employers could gain an advantage over younger companies that cannot match those wage levels, even when they have real hiring needs.

For now, the FY 2026 numbers offer the clearest sign yet that the new rules have changed behavior. The program moved from 758,994 eligible registrations in FY 2024 to 470,342 in FY 2025 and then to 343,981 in FY 2026, while duplicate activity collapsed from 408,891 multiples in FY 2024 to 47,314 in FY 2025 and then to 7,828.

That trend has turned H-1B Registrations into a closer measure of actual demand rather than volume generated by repeat entries. It has also made enforcement a central feature of the program.

For employers and workers, that means the H-1B process now hinges less on filing strategy and more on compliance, documentation and the strength of a single real job offer. With the USCIS Fraud Crackdown continuing and new rules set for FY 2027, the lower registration count in FY 2026 may prove less a one-year drop than a sign of how the H-1B system will operate from here.