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12 US states saw more than 80% of total H-1B visas approved in FY 2026; only 3 of them are Red
The US visa crackdown targets H-1B fraud as 12 states account for nearly 80% of FY2026 approvals, with California, Texas and New York leading.
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On Thursday, September 8, the US announced sanctions on multiple companies operating in the country over alleged H-1B visa fraud. It includes suspensions of Green Card permits, the Permanent Labor Certification Program and a probe into H-1B workers and J-1 students.
The announcement comes as part of a crackdown on visa fraud across the US, with more intense investigation expected in the coming days. The US has approved 270,419 H-1B visas through the June 2026 (Quarter 3) of the 2026 financial year, data archived on the platform Guest Worker Visas show. However, the way these H-1B workers are spread across the country is far from uniform.
In fact, of the 50 states, only 12 accounted for close to 80% of the total H-1B visas approved in the US this year so far, the website of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (UCIS) states. Among them, only seven accounted for over 65% of the total H-1B approvals this year.
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It means that the federal crackdown on visa fraud, especially H-1B visas, is expected to be most intense in these states, putting foreign workers in a potentially vulnerable position.
Also read: US suspends Microsoft from green card programme; Tata, Cognizant, HCL, Infosys also targeted
What The Data Says On H-1B Visa Approvals
The data available on the website of USCIS about approved H-1B visas shows that, except in California and Washington, many of the H-1B workers approved are based out of the East Coast. However, California saw the greatest number of H-1B visas approved in FY2026 with 55,824. It is followed by Texas with 33,618 and New York with 20,983.
Combined with New Jersey (19,925), Illinois (14,115) and Massachusetts (11,403), seven US states have a total of 176,566 approvals in FY2026, accounting for close to 65.3% of the total 270,419 approved. Next comes Pennsylvania (8,089), Michigan (8,054), Maryland (7,703), Washington (7,192) and Georgia (7,082), with a total of 38,120 approvals. Combined, these 12 states account for 214,056 H-1B approvals - nearly 80% of the total number of H-1B visas this year.
Note: This data combines both fresh applications and renewals.
Additionally, data on the State Department website noted that nearly 71% of the workers are of Indian and roughly 64% of them work in the tech industry.
Also read: 7 Indian tech firms rank among top 50 US employers with approved H-1Bs; 5 named in Labor Dept. probe
US Visa Fraud Crackdown And Midterms 2026
The US visa fraud crackdown by the Trump administration comes amid the upcoming US midterm election, where immigration and jobs for Americans are major agendas.
The Labor Department Statistics showed that the US economy added only 29,000 jobs in September 2026 - a sharp fall from August numbers. Moreover, the polls on Trump's performance ahead of the 2026 midterms show that Americans are particularly dissatisfied with his handling of the economy.
In the backdrop of the numbers, Vice President JD Vance said at Thursday's presser from the White House that companies should put "America First" and emphasized on the need to hire American workers.
Red or Blue: Which States Have More H-1B Approvals?
Nine of the 12 US states accounting for nearly 80% of approved H-1B visas in FY 2026 are ruled by Democrats. Except Texas, Pennsylvania and Georgia, all are held by Democrats.
Furthermore, of these 12 states, the Blue states saw 165,897 approvals and Red States saw 48,789 in FY2026. Notably, Pennsylvania and Georgia are set to be two of the key battleground states in the 2026 midterm elections.
