VISA2US Blog

American citizens and those affiliated with them via business, like foreign workers, held a collective breath as the days counted down to October 1 and a potential fiscal year government shutdown. If the two parties couldn’t come to a spending agreement, there would be an impasse and a federal spending moratorium until they did. Thanks to the last-minute short-term spending bill by President Biden, life in the government checkbook went on as normal — at least until November 17. With this new deadline on the horizon, the federal budget remains in dispute, and those holding an H-1B visa must act fast to keep it safe. We’ll explain why and what this means for immigration here.

Followers of the US State Department’s monthly Visa Bulletin were pleased to see so much forward momentum in the October release. Yet, those who recognize the changes and what they mean predicted that so much movement would be followed by slow growth, and November’s bulletin is evidence of that expectation. With hardly any movement anywhere, the second bulletin of the new fiscal year’s lackluster release is broken down here.

As the dramatic saga of Fiscal Year 2023 comes to its official close, those unable to secure an H-1B visa begin to look toward FY 2024 with hope. Still others, like you, may not have a sponsor yet but are actively searching for related companies in their industry. The good news is there is still time! Next year’s registration period won’t begin until March or April. However, you don’t want to wait until the last minute to find a sponsor. If you’re not sure where to start, use this guide to help you connect with a qualifying United States employer who will handle your H-1B visa in FY 2024.

The H-1B Fiscal Year for 2024 officially begins on October 1, 2023. However, there's still a lot of confusion about which registrations will proceed with the petition process and whether "not selected" is the official status for hundreds of thousands of this year's registrants. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) department announced on July 31, 2023, that it reached sufficient petitions to meet the congressional mandates. This announcement includes the regular cap of 65,000 and the advanced degree exemption cap of 20,000. What does this mean for you, and should you give up on this fiscal year? Keep reading to learn more.

By now, you’ve heard of the unusual circumstances surrounding the H-1B lottery for FY 2024. The H-1B visa program is a vital part of the labor force in the United States and foreign countries. It was designed to ensure businesses in industries like science, technology, engineering, mathematics, healthcare, and education could fill essential positions requiring skilled workers. However, the program runs under a “cap” imposed decades ago by Congress, resulting in the creation of a random lottery that is intended to give every registrant an equal chance at selection. But the past two years have increasingly shown more attempts at fraud and a need for an overhaul of the H-1B policy. Let’s take a look at 2022 versus 2023’s H-1B petition analysis here.

Everyone in the immigration world has closely followed the results of FY 2024’s lottery since the first round selection in March. Once US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reported a substantial number of potentially fraudulent registrations, we wondered what the effects would be. USCIS announced a second lottery in July to fill the gaps between the accepted registrations and the allotted amount of visas, and the results show even more fraud than was visible during the first round. Read on for the details.

If you’ve been paying attention to the H-1B visa petitions this year, you’ve seen the headlines about the record-setting FY 2024 lottery numbers. However, US Citizenship and Immigration Services attributes this high number to fraudulent attempts of registering multiple registrations of the same individuals. This significant issue heavily impacted the lottery system this year, causing USCIS to review and reform registration processes. But since new data shows that more than 75% of H-1B registrations amongst the individually filed petitions would’ve been rejected anyway, a deeper problem runs through this system. How is USCIS addressing the visible issues from FY 2024’s lottery? Read on to find out.

Whether you successfully landed an H-1B visa in the 2023 lottery or not, the reality is that millions of people registered and weren’t selected. This is particularly true in countries like India, where the capped limit on a per-country allocation is 7%. The United States permits a limited number of visas annually, but the amount is split amongst all countries with applicants. This creates a substantial backlog of registrants, all of whom are transferred to the next year. Although this has been the system for decades, many experts say 2023 was the worst year yet. What happened, and how can you learn from the mistakes this year? Read on to find out.

USCIS already expected to see a record number of applications for FY 2024 due to various factors, such as lifted pandemic restrictions and massive layoffs in the tech industry. But what wasn’t as predictable was the significant amount of attempted fraud that has been uncovered already. USCIS has caught almost half of the currently submitted applications as multiple registrants. Still, the government branch’s lack of action thus far leaves many questioning how this will affect legitimate applicants, as discussed here.

It’s no secret that this year’s cap filing numbers were substantially higher than predicted or that many registrations are being inspected for potential fraud. Whether the fraudulent claims are based on legitimate abuse or simply careless mistakes remains to be seen, but the fact is that you want your H-1B registration to stand up to scrutiny. To ensure your petition is adjudicated successfully, avoid these common filing mistakes in the future.