Lottery bids for skilled-worker visas plunge in the US after changes aimed at fraud and abuse

By ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Authorities say lottery bids for highly educated worker visas plunged nearly 40% this year. They say the drop shows they’ve successfully cracked down against people who were “gaming the system” by submitting multiple, sometimes dubious, applications to unfairly increase their chances. Major technology companies that use H-1B visas sought changes after massive increases in bids left their employees and prospective hires with slimmer chances of winning the random lottery. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services acknowledged there was likely fraud and abuse. This year, it said each employee had only one shot, whether the person had one job offer or 50.