Multiple H-1B Registrations: What USCIS Anti-Fraud Rules Actually Allow

How the H-1B registration lottery works

Each year, employers wanting to sponsor a new cap-subject H-1B worker submit an electronic registration for that person during a designated period, usually opening in March. Registration costs $215 per beneficiary as of the most recent cap season, according to USCIS . If USCIS receives more registrations than the annual cap allows, it runs a random computerized selection.

Beneficiary centric selection

Since the FY2025 cap season, USCIS selects by unique beneficiary rather than by individual registration. The lottery draws your name once, not once per employer who registered you.

Three employers submitting real registrations for you does not triple your odds of selection, it only guarantees you are represented if any one of those entries would have been drawn.

DHS built the system this way to remove the incentive for related companies to file duplicate registrations for the same candidate purely to inflate that candidate's odds, according to the American Immigration Council .

When more than one employer registering you is legitimate

• You are interviewing with, and have real offers from, two or more unrelated employers, and each independently decides to register you for the cap.

• Each registration reflects an actual job with that specific employer, not a placeholder or a favor between related companies.

• If you are selected under more than one employer, you and each employer decide which one files the full H-1B petition, Form I-129, on your behalf. The others simply do not proceed.

One employer cannot submit more than one registration for the same beneficiary in a single year, regardless of job title, work location, or which of its subsidiaries files it.

From registration to a filed petition

Registration and filing are two separate steps. After the registration period closes and USCIS runs its selection, only selected beneficiaries move to the next stage, where the sponsoring employer prepares and files the full Form I-129 H-1B petition within the filing window USCIS announces for that cap season.

Being registered, and even selected, does not mean the case is finished. The employer still has to file a complete petition, with a valid Labor Condition Application and supporting evidence, before the deadline for it to count.

The annual cap you are registering for

Congress sets the regular H-1B cap at 65,000 visas a year, plus an additional 20,000 reserved for beneficiaries with a US master's degree or higher, under the USCIS electronic registration process . Employers registering you for the advanced-degree pool select the correct category based on your actual degree, and it does not change your beneficiary centric status or your eligibility for the regular cap pool if you are not drawn from the advanced pool.

Where USCIS draws the fraud line

USCIS treats coordinated multiple registrations for the same person, filed by related entities or companies working together to game the odds, as registration fraud, not a legitimate second offer. Warning signs USCIS looks for include shared ownership or HR staff between the registering companies, no real job description tied to the registration, or a pattern of the same beneficiaries appearing across many small staffing entities in one cap season.

Multiple registrations for the same beneficiary have fallen sharply since the beneficiary centric system took effect. In FY2025, USCIS received 479,953 total registrations, with 47,314 involving more than one registration for the same beneficiary, a drop from the year before, according to the American Immigration Council .

What happens if USCIS suspects a fraudulent filing

USCIS denies or revokes any petition connected to a registration it finds fraudulent, and refers the case to its fraud detection unit for a wider investigation. A finding against one employer in a coordinated scheme also puts every beneficiary tied to that employer's registrations at risk, not only the one flagged.

What this means for your job search

Apply to as many employers as you want during H-1B season. If more than one makes you a real offer and chooses to register you, that is normal and legal.

Avoid any company or agency that asks you to pay for a registration with no matching job, or that suggests filing you under several of its related entities. That structure is exactly what the beneficiary centric system and USCIS fraud rules target.