Indians dominate H-1B visa approvals in FY 2022

Indians secure 320,000 H-1Bs with almost three of every four visas for high skilled foreign workers going to them

India-born people again cornered the lion’s share of H-1B petitions approved in the fiscal year 2022 ended Sep 30, 2022 with three of every four such visas for high skilled foreign workers going to them, according to a new official report.

In terms of figures, Indians received about 320,000 or 72.6% of 442,043 petitions approved by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in FY 2022.

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China came a distant second with 55,038 (12.5%) while Canada with a paltry 4,235 successful applicants (1%), stood third, according to the Characteristics of H-1B Specialty Occupation Workers, Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report to Congress published by USCIS.

The numbers include approval of H-1B visas for initial employment and also for continued employment (visa extensions).

In the previous fiscal year, 301,000 Indians received H-1B visas or about 74.1% of the total approved in FY 2021. Last year too Chinese stood second with 50,328 (12.4%) H-1B visas.

In FY 2022, 77,673 India-born individuals obtained H-1B visas for new employment (58.7%). China-born individuals were again second with 18,911 (14,3%).

In 2021, Indians had bagged 75,858 (61.5%) of the visas for initial employment. Chinese had obtained 15.2% of such visas. International students continued to make a significant chunk of those who successfully made a transition from F-1 to H-1B visas.

In short, over the years, Indians have continued to bag more than 70% of the H-1B visas coveted by Indian technology professionals.

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The number of H-1B petitions approved in FY 2022 for workers in computer-related occupations was 291,780, or 66 percent of approved petitions.

The median compensation of beneficiaries with approved petitions increased by 9.3 percent, from $108,000 in FY 2022 to $118,000 in FY 2022.

Highlights

The number of H-1B petitions filed increased by 19.1 percent, from 398,296 in FY 2021 to 474,301 in FY 2022.

The number of H-1B petitions approved increased by 8.6 percent from 407,071 in FY 2021 to 442,043 in FY 2022.

The median age of beneficiaries with approved petitions in FY 2022 was 33 years old, which is the same as FY 2021.

The highest educational attainment of 31.7 percent of beneficiaries with an approved H-1B petition in FY 2022 was a bachelor’s degree.

In addition, 31.1 percent of approved petitions were for workers with a master’s degree, 7.6 percent had a doctorate, and 3.1 percent had a professional degree.

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The H-1B visa applications for ‘initial employment’ are filed for first-time employment in the US. Nearly 132,000 applications for initial employment were approved in FY 2022, as against 123,000 in the previous fiscal.

Late 2022 and the first few months of 2023 have seen a series of lay-offs, which would be reflected in next year’s report.

While there is an annual quota of 85,000 for H-1B visa allotments, some categories of employers such as those engaged in higher education are exempt from the cap, resulting in the higher figure of approval of H-1B visas for new jobs.