U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provided updates on the fiscal year (FY) 2026 H-1B cap process, noting a significant decrease in the total number of registrations submitted and eligible beneficiaries compared to FY 2025.

Key Points:

  • In March, USCIS received enough initial registrations to meet the FY 2026 H-1B cap, including the advanced degree exemption (master’s cap), selecting 118,660 unique beneficiaries and resulting in 120,141 selected registrations.
  • During the initial registration period there was a significant decrease in the total number of registrations submitted and eligible beneficiaries compared to FY 2025, including a decrease in the number of registrations submitted on behalf of beneficiaries with multiple registrations. Additional registration analysis found:
    • The number of unique employers for FY 2026 (approximately 57,600) was comparable to the number last year for FY 2025 (approximately 52,700).
    • The number of eligible unique beneficiaries for FY 2026 (approximately 339,000) was significantly lower than the number last year for FY 2025 (approximately 442,000).
    • The number of eligible registrations was also dramatically lower for FY 2026 (343,981) compared with FY 2025 (470,342) — a 26.9% reduction.
  • On average, each beneficiary only had approximately one registration submitted on their behalf, with an average of 1.01 registrations per beneficiary for FY 2026, compared to 1.06 for FY 2025.

Additional Information: The chart below shows registration and selection numbers for FYs 2021–26:

Cap Fiscal Year Total Registrations Eligible Registrations Eligible Registrations for Beneficiaries with No Other Eligible Registrations Eligible Registrations for Beneficiaries with Multiple Eligible Registrations Selected Registrations
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 780,884 758,994 350,103 408,891 188,400
2025 479,953 470,342 423,028 47,314 135,137
2026 358,737 343,981 336,153 7,828 120,141

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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