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H1B Visa Cap Numbers Used Vs. Unused History: 1992 – 2024

The H1B Visa program was created to address the skilled workers gap in the US. The demand for H1B Visa workers has gone over the roof in the last decade, with consecutive H1B Visa Lottery for over 10 years. But did you know there were times when the H1B cap was not used? In this article, we capture the H1B Visa Cap numbers usage history starting from 1992 all the way until FY 2024.

H1B Visa Cap Used vs. Unused Numbers by Year

Below is a table that shows the data of H1B Visa Program Cap by year and the total number of visas that were used or unused by Year starting from FY 1992 until FY 2024

Fiscal YearH1B Quota Cap H1B Cap UsedUnused Numbers
199265,00048,60016,400
199365,00061,6003,400
199465,00060,6004,700
199565,00054,20010,800
199665,00055,1009,900
199765,00065,0000
199865,00065,0000
1999115,000115,0000
2000115,000115,0000
2001195,000163,60031,400
2002195,00079,100115,900
2003195,00078,000117,000
200485,00085,0000
200585,00085,0000
200685,00085,0000
200785,00085,0000
200885,00085,0000
200985,00085,0000
201085,00085,0000
201185,00085,0000
201285,00085,0000
201385,00085,0000
201485,00085,0000
201285,00085,0000
201385,00085,0000
201485,00085,0000
201585,00085,0000
201685,00085,0000
201785,00085,0000
201885,00085,0000
201985,00085,0000
202085,00085,0000
202185,00085,0000
202285,00085,0000
202385,00085,0000
202485,00085,0000

You may also read H1B Visa Cap Reach Dates by Year, History and Trends for more details.

Historical Statistics about H1B Visa Program in the US

  • In 2009, H1B holders constituted only 0.06% of American civilian labor force. It is a myth that some of the US general public claim that H1B holders are completely taking over Americans’ jobs.
  • For the 2009 quota, Indian Tech companies filed only under 6% of the total H1B visa petitions. Based on tracking, Indian companies’ filings fell 70% between 2006 and 2009. It is not true to blame Indian companies they are taking all the US IT job market.
  • Surveys taken by highly qualified Indians and Chinese leaving America reveal that, it is H1B visas-related issues that prompted them to leave US.
  • Research shows that H1B visa holders are critical for entrepreneurship, innovation and creating of jobs in US. The argument by few American people that only 0.06% inflow by H1B holders is ruining the whole American jobs is not logical or supported by facts


Reference:  National Foundation for American Policy Publication: H1B visa by numbers 2010 and Beyond

   

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18 Comments

  1. Don’t try to confuse the issue! H1B visas are not immigrants. They are guest workers. The argument that we are all immigrants is an apples/oranges comparison. My family came here to integrate into American society, not to take American money and mail it back to some cesspool of a country.

    We got rid of our king. Others should follow our lead. As they say: people get the government & country that they deserve. If you’re loyal to a despot, then you’ll live in despotism. Get rid of your despots, and create your own economies. Stop hitchhiking on ours.

    Reply
    • Notice the typical socialist tactic: when you can’t argue the FACTS, inject race into the argument.

      Again, H1B’s, from ANY COUNTRY are not immigrants. They are guest workers. We don’t need them. I am not arguing against LEGAL immigration. I’m pointing out the lies that the lobbyist for big business have fed to congress for years. They convince legislators that we don’t have the talented people to run high tech. The truth is, they cut their sentence short: “We don’t have the talented people to run high tech, AND want to do it at 7-eleven-cashier salaries”.

      It’s a simple truth: H1B’s depress US salaries by flooding our job market with cheap, substandard labor. Until they are gone, we’ll never see living standards comparable to the eighties and early nineties again.

      Reply
      • This is why they say “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. In 1990, Congress passed a law to recognize H-1B visa as having “dual intent” – meaning the beneficiary may pursue permanent residency if they choose to.

        There’s no data to prove that H-1Bs drive down prevailing wage – on the contrary, the NFAP study shows that H-1Bs aid the economy and education of this country. Obviously H-1Bs professionals are not hired in McDonalds’ – why then they are avert against raising the minimum wage?

        You want fact? Here’s one. H-1Bs will be here as long as THEY like. Too bad if you don’t like it because you can’t do s*it.

        Reply
      • Well said Roger. I’d say H1-Bs have become business terrorists. I’ve seen H1-Bs collectively working to remove American citizens from telecoms and other IT workplaces. Yes, they can apply for permanent residency. All this should be reviewed and changed.
        This is an invasion and should we should respond as appropriate.

        Reply
  2. Your data is flat wrong and does not account for the cummulative numbers of H1b visa holders, L-1 visa holders and all the different categories of visa workings living in the u.s. now….my estimates bring the totals closer to 25Million….thats right 25million with an M.

    I have seen the real data and its astounding. It has been documented by Professor Norman Matloff who teaches Software Engineering at UC Davis and who testified before Congress many times. Look it up.

    This issue is: AMericans are very generous and caring people…thats why they strive for equality…however, we have been FLOODED with immigrants in the last 15 years….and many U.S. citizens are getting fired and replaced due to lower wages for the visa holders. Its unfair to us and would not be allowed in India or China.

    India has a LAW that says no company can hire more than 1% of foreigners per company…in the U.S. we have hundreds of companies with more than 50% foreign workers….
    Enginneers in Silicon Valley with great degrees and yrs of experience get fired and replaced by lower wage workers….UNFAIR. The government of India LOBBIES the U.S. CONGRESS to push for more Indian jobs in the U.S….UNFAIR…..
    We citizens are tired of being such pushovers, we have been generous, now we are simply being taken advantage of.

    Last of all….U.S. universities are the cornerstone of this trend….they figured out they can make so much more money if they have a higher percentage of foreign students —-they charge 2 to 3 times the tuition—–its not that U.S. citizens are bad at math–not at all—-we have been “selected” out of the schools in favor of revenue for the Universities….Another troubling trend. In the recent past, silicon valley was built and prospered by U.S. citizens (from every ethnic background)….but today, our tax dollars support universities that give our university slots away to foreign students…thats why there are currently such high percentages of foreign students graduating—–Its UNFAIR.

    Reply
    • 1) The “immigrant” argument is just baseless. Everyone is America is an immigrant of some sort. Just because someone came on a boat 50 years before the visa system was introduced doesn’t give them any more rights than one coming on a plane today.
      2) These “immigrants” pay social security which you reap the benefit of at old age; most of them don’t see a dime of it.
      3) Both The Wall Street Journal and The Economist have asserted on their editorial pages that each H-1B visa creates five additional jobs.
      4) American students are not even in the top 10 when it comes to Math and Science; China is far ahead. Colleges and Universities care about having good students, not where they are coming from. they are not going to accept someone just because he’s from San Francisco; they’d rather accept a better student from Shanghai.

      Stop whining. You don’t like competition? Try relocating to the North Pole.

      Reply
      • Abhijit are you a terrorist? Sounds like it. You have a poor understanding of American history. H1-Bs do not create more jobs for Americans and that rhetoric is non-sense.

        Reply
        • Scott, it seems you’ve a few in your family that’s why you got in the habit of sniffing for ’em. Your bullying is not going to intimidate me douche bag – try again.

          Reply
          • Gee Abhijit temper temper. You invaded my country. I didn’t invade yours. It’s not bullying guy. I asked you a question. The jobs created are for more H1-Bs. Congrats for manipulating Americans but don’t expect it to last.

  3. There is more to this than meets the eye. As a consultant every organization I enter has a large contingent of Indian staff working locally. It makes sense to have people visit for school or a short term project but I’ve had some organizations lying about qualifications supporting Indians in citizenship… etc. Then they replace them with more H1-Bs.

    If this system is fair where are the other cultures! Russian, Chinese, South America developers?

    For a business model it just does not make sense. We need localized support for complex systems.

    Reply
    • A call center in India can’t add hard drives to your servers or track down a failed network port. Also, customers hate dealing with the lack of communication skills. Outsourcing will be a short-term, short-lived problem. Government could shorten it easily. That’s one place I see raising taxes as a positive move. Companies that outsource American jobs should be taxed severely.

      Also, businesses will eventually learn that outsourcing is a dangerous game. It puts your company’s intellectual property into the hands of foreigners that are well-shielded from lawsuits. It’s pretty difficult to sue the fly-by-night New Dehli call center that just sold your sales data to the competition. If you don’t think that’s already happening, you’re nuts.

      While this isn’t a data-related example, it’s still that same basic crime: I remember a company I worked for years ago that sent a molding machine to China to have plastic parts made there and shipped here for 1/3 the price of manufacturing here. A few months later, a competitor was selling the same exact product. The parts were identical down to the microscopic scratches transferred from flaws in the mold-polishing. They were clearly making parts for the competition with our company’s equipment. We showed it to the company’s lawyers – their response was that there was nothing we could do short of recalling the machine because the Chinese government would protect there own to the end.

      Reply
    • As I said before, a call center in India can’t add hard drives to your servers or track down a failed network port. Ending H1B absolutely WILL reduce unemployment in IT.

      Reply
  4. What you should also take in to account is the fact that these guys work at a pittance. Also these folks have an excellent academic background thereby making them a lucrative proposition.

    At the end of the day its pure business rules that apply to hiring as well. If you get better talent at an affordable price why would someone look out for H1B’s/L1 etc..?

    Reply
  5. There are over 960,000 H1B’s in the US today.
    http://h1b-visa-data.com/states.html

    There are 13.9 million people unemployed.
    http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

    That makes 7% of our current unemployment rate displaced by these foreigners. Putting close to a million Americans back to work by getting rid of a bunch of invaders who typically can’t speak our language worth a damn sounds like a really good start toward recovery to me.

    Reply
    • You had forgotten that your family also came to the country looking for better opportunities. So they were also “invaders”. Thank good most americans dont think like you. You are a shame!!!!

      Reply
  6. Hi,

    Interesting

    I did a back of the envelop sum and I get almost 2 million jobs. This does not include other visas, like L1s and I don’t think it includes 20,000 masters/phd graduates per year. Where I work in my occupation the workforce is 80% H1b.

    If 50% of the programmers are here on Visas and they are only responsible fo 25% of the startups, what does that say.

    Regards

    Reply

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