The first H-1B lottery (FY 2027) held under the second Donald Trump administration this year saw selection rates jump to "unseen levels", Bloomberg Law reported, citing data from immigration firms. This was the first lottery that was based on wage levels and also after the administration imposed a $100,000 fee for H-1B applications. The USCIS has not released the official data on how many registrations it received and how many got selected in the lottery but law firms told Bloomberg that they saw a bigger success rate this time.
The visa program to hire specialty workers from foreign countries used to depend on a random lottery, as it receives more applications than the yearly quota of 85,000. But the administration revised the lottery rule to give more chances of winning to more qualified candidates. Some top legal firms cited 50-60% success rate this year compared to one in three selection chances in previous years.
