A sharp decline has been witnessed in H-1B visa petition approvals for the fiscal year ending September 2025, even though the petitions filed increased in the United States.
Earlier this month, the "Fiscal Year 2025: H-1B Petitions" annual report was submitted to the US Congress. This highlighted the total number of petitions filed as approved by the authorities from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sep. 30, 2025.
Prepared by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the report stated that a total of 456,725 H-1B visa petitions were filed in FY 2025. Out of these, only 328,185 got approved.
This marks the lowest level of approvals in the last five years, and a steep 18% reduction compared to 399,402 in FY 2024, when a total of 427,091 petitions were filed.
Prior to that, 386,584 petitions were filed in FY 2023, one of the highest at 474,301 in FY 2022 and 398,269 in FY 2021.
In FY 2025, the first quarter (October-December 2024) witnessed a major decline in approvals. During this period, only 47,821 H-1B visa petitions were approved compared to 87,018 in FY 2024 and 99,805 in FY 2023.
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Out of the 456,725 petitions filed in FY 2025, 80,913 were from October to December 2024, 81,948 from January to March 2025, 200,687 from April to June 2025 and 93,177 from July to September 2025.
The report further stated that 410,929 of these H-1B visa petitions filed in FY 2025 were from employers with more than 26 full-time employees, while 45,796 were from employers with 25 or fewer full-time employees, qualifying them for a reduced $750 fee instead of $1,500.
Overall, the H-1B visa annual report stated that USCIS approvals came to a five-year low even when the employer demand increased in FY 2025.
Notably, US President Donald Trump had on Sep. 19 last year signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa petitions. This marked a major shift in the country's skilled worker immigration policy that is aimed at curbing abuse and prioritising highly skilled professionals. This measure required companies in the US to pay $100,000 to sponsor each H-1B worker.
Meanwhile, the filing of H-1B work visa petitions in the quarter ending December 2025 came down 23.1% compared to the same period last year, data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) shows.
During the first quarter of FY 2026, employers filed 76,164 Labour Condition Applications (LCAs).
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