Uncle Sam claims H-1B fraud crackdown is working as registrations drop 25%

Surely Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric has nothing to do with it

US immigration officials say they are winning the war on H-1B fraud – and say they've got the numbers to prove it.

Applications for the work visa for Uncle Sam's fiscal 2026 – the 12 months running from October 2025 to September 2026 – dropped by about 25 percent year over year, with eligible filings down even further. The Trump administration's open hostility toward immigrants and fears of a recession may also have contributed to the decline as well as any fraud busting.

America's H-1B program lets companies, especially big tech outfits, temporarily employ foreign workers in the United States for so-called specialty roles. Typically, hopefuls register for a government-run lottery early in the year, and if picked by the end of March, get the chance to have their employer petition the US government for a H-1B visa on their behalf. If that petition is successful, the visa is issued beginning October to the foreign worker; it is valid for three years, and can be renewed – the renewal process depends on their circumstances.

Crucially, the H-1B allows the worker to leave and reenter the country, apply to change employer, and bring dependents with them, such as spouses. It is also a so-called dual-intent visa, meaning that while it is technically a temporary benefit and the worker is expected to leave at some point, it provides a legal pathway and usually just enough runway, time-wise, to apply for permanent residency – a green card – which is itself a pathway to citizenship and freedom.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) runs the aforementioned lottery because registrations usually outnumber the 85,000 annual cap on new slots (there some roles that are cap exempt). While only 85,000 new cap-subject petitions can be approved each year, the total number of H-1B visas issued, including renewals and cap-exempt gigs, is far higher.

The system has seen years of abuse, with multiple registrations often submitted on behalf of the same individual to boost lottery odds.

That trend peaked in FY 2024, when USCIS received nearly 781,000 H-1B registrations, according to the Homeland Security agency. That triggered reforms that culminated in a beneficiary-centric selection process starting in FY 2025.

Now, the flood of registrations has receded. The agency updated its H-1B process page with figures for FY 2026, revealing that 358,737 total registrations were submitted, down from 479,953 the previous year. Of those, 343,981 were deemed eligible, marking a 26.9 percent drop from FY 2025 after duplicates, invalid entries, and payment failures were weeded out.

Perhaps more telling from an enforcement perspective, each applicant averaged just 1.01 registrations, down from 1.06 in FY 2025. According to USCIS, that means each beneficiary, on average, had just one registration submitted on their behalf - a sign the system is no longer being flooded with duplicate entries.

In the end, USCIS selected 120,141 H-1B registrations for FY 2026, an 11 percent decrease from FY 2025.

USCIS boasts that this proves its new policies are cutting down on H-1B fraud.

The data … indicates that there were far fewer attempts to gain an unfair advantage than in prior years

"The data … indicates that there were far fewer attempts to gain an unfair advantage than in prior years," USCIS said. "This is in large part because we implemented the beneficiary-centric selection process under the final rule Improving the H-1B Registration Selection Process and Program Integrity."

Key changes under the rule include a jump in the registration fee - from $10 to $215 starting in March 2025 - a requirement for each registration to include a valid, unique passport number, improved duplicate-checking in the registration system, and a strict one-entry-per-beneficiary limit in the lottery.

USCIS also says it has stepped up fraud enforcement, citing expanded investigations, petition denials and revocations, and ongoing law enforcement referrals for criminal prosecution.

"We believe… the decreased registration numbers for FY 2025 and FY2026 indicate that these investigations, and the beneficiary-centric selection process, have been effective integrity measures," USCIS said. 

Another possible reason for the decrease: The Trump administration's approach, including aggressive deportation policies and rhetoric, may be giving would-be immigrants second thoughts about the US.

Meanwhile, other nations are openly pitching themselves as alternatives. The EU recently rolled out a €500 million "Choose Europe" plan initiative to lure global researchers, as the Trump administration proposes steep funding cuts to agencies like the National Science Foundation and NASA.

Companies are also cutting their workforces as fears of an upcoming recession loom, meaning there may be less demand for foreign-born expert workers than there has been in recent years.

Immigration officials didn't break down registration data by industry. We've asked for additional data and will update this story if we hear back. ®