How many H-1B visas and EB-2 green cards are granted each year in the U.S?

By law the H-1B program is capped at 85,000 new visas per fiscal year, and the EB-2 employment-based green card category receives about 40,000–43,000 allocations annually.

Since 1965 more than 76 million immigrants have come to the United States. The country remains a major destination for skilled workers and professionals. Two common pathways are the H-1B nonimmigrant visa and the EB-2 employment-based green card. The article summarizes recent annual figures for each program. Key figures: - The H-1B program is statutorily capped at 85,000 new visas per fiscal year: 65,000 under the general cap and 20,000 reserved for workers with advanced U.S. degrees. - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services received more than 340,000 H-1B registrations in fiscal year 2026, which triggered a lottery to select petitions for processing. - Many approvals are renewals or extensions that do not count against the annual H-1B cap; for example, in 2004 there were 258,000 approvals that were renewals. - The United States limits employment-based green cards to about 140,000 per year overall, and the EB-2 category receives roughly 40,000–43,000 allocations annually. - High global demand has produced significant backlogs in EB-2, especially for applicants from India and China, leading to retrogression in priority dates. Summary: These statutory caps and allocation rules determine how many new skilled workers can receive H-1B status or EB-2 green cards each year, while renewals and transfers mean many skilled workers remain in the U.S. at any given time. Strong demand has produced lottery selection for H-1B filings and long waits in some EB-2 categories. Debate over skilled immigration reform is ongoing; next policy changes are undetermined at this time.