H-1B Applications Drop as U.S. Employers Anticipate Reforms

Employers applied for about 16 percent fewer H-1B visas for highly skilled workers this year than in 2016, possibly reflecting concern that the Trump administration is taking a more restrictive approach to the program.

Employers seeking visas for 2018 submitted 199,000 applications this year, compared with 236,000 last year, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Monday. The visa program, which is designed to let companies hire highly skilled workers for technical jobs based in the U.S. that they’re having trouble filling, is a central policy focus of the technology industry.

As in past years, the number of applications far exceeded the 85,000 visas available. But this was the first time in the past five years that the total number of requests decreased. While the federal government made some incremental changes this year, it didn’t make any fundamental shifts — much to the frustration of some officials who have been pushing for sweeping reforms. There are several bills in Congress that would implement bigger adjustments, but they wouldn't impact the program until next year at the earliest.