For the second consecutive year, there has been a decline in H-1B lottery registrations according to data published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS):
- Employers submitted approximately 344,000 registrations this year, down 26 percent from last year and the lowest number of registrations in four years.
- The number of workers with multiple registrations also declined for the second year in a row.
In fiscal year 2024, H-1B lottery registrations hit an all-time high with more than 758,000 registrations, including more than 350,000 workers with multiple registrations. USCIS identified a significant number of unlawful entries by companies trying to game the system.
In response, USCIS revamped its process to select by worker rather than by registration and thereby removed any advantage gained by workers who have multiple registrations. In fiscal year 2025, the number of workers with multiple registrations dropped to 47,314 or about 10 percent of total registrations, and for fiscal year 2026 it dropped to 7,828 or about two percent of the total registrations.
The number of unique employers increased this year, with 57,600 compared to 52,700 last year.
USCIS increased the registration fee from $10 to $215, generating nearly $74 million in registration fees this year.