Unprecedented FY2024 H-1B Cap Registration Numbers Alert USCIS to Potential Fraudulent Activity

May 1, 2023

USCIS released the number of H-1B Cap Registrations it received this year for FY2024. The agency received 780,884 total registrations for its H-1B Cap this year. Every year since FY2021, this number has steadily increased, with FY2023 receiving 474,927 total registrations.

The process for a petitioning employer to submit an H-1B Cap Registration is fairly straightforward. A petitioning employer creates an online account with USCIS’s system, enters a small amount of biographic information for each beneficiary, and pays $10 USD online for each registration.

The dramatic increase in registrations for FY2024 did alarm USCIS to potential fraud issues, as USCIS saw a much larger number of registrations for beneficiary prospective employees with multiple eligible registrations than in previous fiscal years. For FY2023 there were 165,180 registrations of this nature, and for FY2024 there were 408,891 of these types of registrations.

Per the H-1B Cap Registration process, prospective petitioning employers need to attest that they “did not work with, or agree to work with another registrant, petitioner, agent, or other individual or entity to submit a registration to unfairly increase chances of selection for the beneficiary or beneficiaries in this submission.” In a release update by the Public Engagement Division of USCIS, the agency said: “Based on evidence from the FY2023 and FY 2024 H-1B cap seasons, USCIS has already undertaken extensive fraud investigations, denied and revoked petitions accordingly, and is in the process of initiating law enforcement referrals for criminal prosecution.”

USCIS receives Fraud Prevention Fees from some H-1B applications to fund these investigations to ensure a just and equal system for registrants each fiscal year.

If you were a registrant who was not selected in the H-1B Cap for FY2024 and would like to explore other employment-based immigration options, please read our previous article. Below is the chart of H-1B FY2024 Registrations from the USCIS Public Engagement Division.

This chart shows registration and selection numbers for fiscal years 2021-2024 (as of April 24, 2023). 

Cap Fiscal Year	Total Registrations	Eligible Registrations*	Eligible Registrations for Beneficiaries with No Other Eligible Registrations	Eligible Registrations for Beneficiaries with Multiple Eligible Registrations	Selections**
2021	274,237	269,424	241,299	28,125	124,415
2022	308,613	301,447	211,304	90,143	131,924
2023	483,927	474,421	309,241	165,180	127,600
2024	780,884	758,994	350,103	408,891	110,791

*The count of eligible registrations excludes duplicate registrations, those deleted by the prospective employer prior to the close of the registration period, and those with failed payments.

**The number of selections was smaller in FY24 than in prior years primarily due to (a) establishing a higher anticipated petition filing rate by selected registrants based on prior years; and (b) higher projected Department of State approvals of H-1B1 visas, which count against the H-1B cap.

by: Marisabel Alonso

---

TAGS: H-1B, H-1B Cap, H-1B Lottery, H-1B Master's Cap