Maryland Criminal & Immigration Lawyer Blog
The paperwork and procedural requirements involved in pursuing a work visa are often intricate and detailed. Even technical errors may substantially reduce your odds of success… or derail you completely. To ensure that the application you put forward is free of the pitfalls that can harm or destroy your chances of a successful outcome, it pays to work with a Maryland work visa lawyer who is fully knowledgeable and experienced in these matters.
Last month, the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service revealed the number of H-1B visa registrations it received for Fiscal Year 2025. That number of registrations for FY 2025 represented a massive 39% drop from the agency’s total registrations for FY 2024.
Multiple possible reasons may explain the substantial dip. One fact worth noting is that the number of registrations for 2024 – 780,844 – was vastly higher than in any other recent year. Since 2021, the second highest number of registrations came in FY 2023, at 483,927. (2025’s registrations, numbering 479,953, were less than 1% fewer than those received in 2023.)
Additionally, when you look at the number of unique H-1B beneficiaries rather than the number of total registrations, the year-to-year changes are much less dramatic. For 2025, the number of unique beneficiaries was 442,000, a drop of only about 4,000 (less than 1%) from the number of unique beneficiaries for 2024. On top of that, the number of unique employers was similar year-to-year, only dropping from 52,700 to 52,000, or less than 1.5%.
Also worth noting is that the rate of selection has remained very similar during the last three years. In 2023, it was 26.4%, in 2024, it dropped to 24.1%, then rose to 25.1% in 2025. In other words, in the last three years, a registration had a roughly 1-in-4 chance of selection.
Ways to Bolster the Odds of Success
Certain things may enhance an application’s chances of success in the H-1B lottery. One is if the beneficiary holds a U.S. master’s degree (or higher.) There is a cap exemption for beneficiaries with these types of degrees. Be aware, though, that degrees from private, for-profit institutions generally don’t count and the degree must be completed by the time of filing. Additionally, if you, as a beneficiary, have bona fide job offers from multiple employers, each employer can file on your behalf. This will create multiple applications naming you as the beneficiary and boost your odds.
One of the biggest things that can enhance the odds of success is a problem-free application. Damaging flaws can range from filing at the wrong time (either too late or too early) to technical/procedural errors in the filing (like filing at the wrong service center, stating incorrect H-1B employment dates, or filing without essential signatures.)
The best way to avoid these pitfalls is to work with legal counsel who is knowledgeable about the H-1B process. Whether you are looking to sponsor a worker or you are a potential beneficiary, the skilled Maryland work visa attorneys at Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC have the experience you need to provide answers and advice that are both useful and reliable. Contact us today at 301-519-2801 or via our online form to set up your consultation. The sooner you call, the sooner we can get to work on your visa application.