By Asia Samachar | United States |
The H-1B visa, the lottery route for US employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in specialty occupations, is all full-up for 2026.
Employers for lucky applicants picked can now begin the petition process to secure the visa which in the past have been dominated by those born in India.
The annual demand for the highly sought-after visa often exceeds the available visa numbers, leading to a lottery system.
In a statement on March 31, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it has received enough electronic registrations for unique beneficiaries during the initial registration period to reach the fiscal year (FY) 2026 H-1B numerical allocations.
“We have randomly selected enough beneficiaries with properly submitted registrations projected as needed to reach the H-1B cap and have notified all prospective petitioners with selected beneficiaries that they are eligible to file an H-1B cap-subject petition for such beneficiaries,” it said.
The number of H-1B applications approved in recent years has climbed. Nearly 400,000 were approved in fiscal year 2024, most of which were applications to renew employment. Rejection rates of H-1B applications spiked during President Donald Trump’s first term but fell under former President Joe Biden, according to an article at the Pew Research Centre website.
India is the top country of birth for H-1B workers. Roughly three-quarters (73%) of H-1B workers whose applications were approved in fiscal 2023 were born in India. A majority of approvals every year since 2010 have gone to workers born in India, the report added.
China is the second-most common birthplace, accounting for 12% of H-1B workers approved in 2023.
Computer-related jobs have been the most common occupation for H-1B workers for more than a decade. Since fiscal 2012, about 60% or more of H-1B workers approved each year have held a computer-related job. In 2023, the share was 65%, and these workers reported a median annual salary of $123,600. Examples of these include jobs in systems analysis and programming, computer systems technical support, and data communications and networks.
The next largest job group for H-1B workers approved in 2023 is architecture, engineering and surveying (9%). Workers in these jobs reported a median annual salary of $115,000. Examples of these include jobs in electrical or electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, and industrial engineering.
The analysis noted that Amazon has been the employer with the most H-1B workers approved each year since 2020. Amazon received more than 11,000 H-1B approvals in fiscal 2023. This accounts for 3% of all H-1B applications approved that year.
Many of the other top employers provide information technology and business services, including Cognizant Technology Solutions, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Google.
In 2023, three of the top 10 H-1B employers were either headquartered in India (Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services) or originated in India and are now headquartered in the U.S. (Cognizant Technology Solutions).
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