H-1B Visas Skyrocket Despite Trump Admin Crackdown

H‑1B visa renewals are on pace to reach a record high in fiscal year 2026, according to new analysis of U.S. government data—an increase that comes even as the Trump administration pushes to tighten aspects of the high‑skilled worker program.

LayoffHedge, a workforce analytics firm, reviewed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data and found that 273,026 H-1B petitions for continuing employment had been approved through the first nine months of fiscal year 2026, which runs from October 2025 through September 2026. That total is already nearing the record 291,542 renewal approvals recorded during fiscal year 2025, with three months still remaining.

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While some experts argue the figures highlight the growing scale of H-1B activity occurring outside the annual visa cap, others contend the numbers should be interpreted more cautiously because they reflect petition approvals rather than unique workers and may include extensions, transfers and amended filings.

The figures focus on what USCIS classifies as “continuing employment” petitions, extensions and renewals for workers already employed in the United States on H-1B visas, rather than new approvals issued through the annual visa lottery. USCIS separates H-1B approvals into “initial employment” petitions—which are generally subject to the annual cap of 85,000 visas—and “continuing employment” petitions, which are not capped.

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According to Pew Research Center, almost 400,000 H-1B petitions were approved in fiscal year 2024. Of those, 258,196, about 65 percent, were renewals or extensions for existing H-1B workers.

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Jiaxin He, a research assistant with the Economic Innovation Group, told Newsweek that continuing-employment figures cited by Pew and LayoffHedge combine several different categories of petitions.

“Only 118,194 of those are actual renewals,” He said, referring to approvals in fiscal year 2025. “The remaining 173,000 petitions represent workers who changed jobs, received promotions, transferred employers, or otherwise amended their status.”

He argued that continuing-employment approvals should not be interpreted as a count of unique workers and said the figures are better understood as petition events involving workers already in the H-1B system.

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