Beneficiary Centric H-1B Registration “Lottery”

For Fiscal Year 2025, USCIS has introduced a significant change in how H-1B registrations will be selected for filing. The ever-growing number of H-1B registrations, specifically multiple registrations on behalf of the same beneficiary, was evidence that the H-1B electronic registration H-1B lottery was not working. Since USCIS introduced the H-1B electronic registration process in 2020, the number of registrations has dramatically increased — from 274,237 in FY 2021 to most recently 780,884 in FY 2024. Of greater concern, the number of beneficiaries with multiple registrations increased from 28,125 in FY 2021 to 408,891 in FY 2024. During that timeframe, the odds of a registration getting selected fell from 46.1 percent to 14.6 percent.

To create a fairer H-1B registration process, USCIS has changed to a “beneficiary-centric” system. Under this new process, USCIS will select H-1B registrations by each unique beneficiary, and beneficiaries will have an equal chance of selection, whether they have one petitioner register them or 10. This new beneficiary-centric selection process was devised to combat the gaming of the registration system, as it was suspected that many disingenuous registrations had been submitted by petitioners in the FY 2024 H-1B lottery to boost the odds of a beneficiary getting selected. If a beneficiary is selected, each petitioner that registered the beneficiary will be eligible to file an H-1B petition on behalf of the beneficiary.

The beneficiary-centric selection is a welcome change to the H-1B registration process, as it should increase the odds of selection, but it does come with some unique considerations for petitioning employers. If a beneficiary is selected in the H-1B lottery, the petitioner will be notified of the selection but won’t be informed if other companies had also registered the beneficiary. This can lead to a situation where multiple employers file H-1B petitions on behalf of the selected beneficiary and multiple petitions are approved for the beneficiary. The petitioning employer could spend the time and money to file an H-1B petition only to learn that the beneficiary has decided to work for another employer who also obtained an H-1B approval.

Based on the new rules, if multiple H-1B petitions are approved for a beneficiary, all approvals will remain viable for the beneficiary’s employment. A beneficiary could begin work in H-1B status for one petitioner and then leave to work for another company that had obtained an approval without the need for a change-of-employer petition. The beneficiary might also use registrations by multiple petitioners as a bargaining tool to obtain better wages or benefits. It could behoove the petitioning employer to ask the beneficiary if they had been selected by other petitioners and if other H-1B petitions are being filed on their behalf.

While this change in the H-1B registration is an improvement, it does not address the larger issue of the insufficiency of current H-1B visa numbers. The demand for H-1B visas far outweighs the number of annual visas available, and congressional action is needed to increase the annual number of H-1B visas. While this does not seem likely in our current political climate, this would be a common-sense change, as U.S. companies are losing talent critical to the growth and success of their businesses.