USCIS Provides Updates on FY2025 H-1B Cap Registration Process

April 30, 2024

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on April 1, 2024, that the agency received enough electronic registrations during the initial H-1B registration period to reach the fiscal year (FY) 2025 H-1B numerical allocations (H-1B cap), including the advanced degree exemption, also known as the master’s cap.

USCIS took significant steps this past cap season to prevent companies from submitting multiple H-1B registrations for the same beneficiary after a large number of registrations for FY2024 seemed to indicate that registrants or potential employers engaged in this prohibited practice. These steps included undertaking thorough fraud investigations, denying and revoking petitions accordingly, and making law enforcement referrals for criminal prosecution.

The most significant change in the FY2025 H-1B cap season registration period was the beneficiary-centric selection process, which tied registrations to beneficiaries based on their unique passport number. In an informational release to the public, USCIS shared that initial data suggests that the number of eligible registrations fell from 758,994 in FY2024 to 470,342 registrations in FY2025. The number of unique beneficiaries and unique employers for FY2025 were comparable to those of the FY2024 process.

USCIS reiterated its commitment to continue these investigations in reviewing the registrations for FY2025 in order to ensure the integrity of the H-1B cap program into the future.

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Written by: Marisabel Alonso, Esq.

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