H-1B visa registrations fell 38.5% this year to their lowest level in the past seven fiscal years as tougher US immigration rules, sharply higher costs and wage-based selection norms pushed companies to become highly selective in sponsoring foreign workers.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), in an X post, said it received 211,600 eligible registrations for FY27, down from 343,981 last year.
The share of Indians in this pool is unclear. Indians accounted for 70% of the total H-1B approvals in FY25.
USCIS said it has been approving more applications with advanced degrees and higher salaries. “An overwhelming 71.5% of selected aliens hold a US master’s degree or higher, compared to 57% last year,” it said, adding about 17.7% of the applications were in the lowest wage category.
“This data is a clear sign that the days of abusing the program with mass, low-wage registrations are over, and that the program is better serving its intended purpose of attracting highly skilled foreign workers and protecting the wages, working conditions, and job opportunities of American workers,” the agency said in the X post.
