What is the Difference Between H1B Visa 2017 and 2016?

The H1B visa is a United States work visa that allows U.S. employers to employ foreign workers temporarily. The main differences between the H1B visa in 2016 and 2017 are the number of applications and the distribution of visas among different companies.

In FY 2016, USCIS received about 233,000 applications, while in FY 2017, they received about 236,000 applications. There wasn't a significant difference in the number of applications submitted in 2017 compared to 2016 in any of the top 10 leading states.

A notable change in the distribution of H1B visas between 2016 and 2017 was the drop in the number of visas given to the top seven Indian technology companies. In FY 2017, these companies received a total of 8,468 H1B visas, which is a 9.5% drop compared to FY 2016. This drop was due to an increase in approved H1B visa applications from U.S. tech companies like Amazon, which saw an 80% increase in approved applications, and Facebook, which saw a 53% increase.

Comparative Table: H1B Visa 2017 vs 2016

The difference between H1B visa 2017 and 2016 can be summarized in the following table:

In 2016, there were 233,000 H1B visa applications, while in 2017, there were 236,000 applications. The cap reached date for both years was April 7th.