H-1B visa filings fell at major financial firms in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, even as some banks kept adding workers to the program and the Trump administration’s new fee and screening rules were heading toward their first full effect. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs both reported sharp drops in certified applications, while Citi increased its filings from a year earlier.
The Department of Labor data show the biggest financial users of the program filed 10% fewer certified applications in October through December than they did in the same period a year earlier. Looking at 20 of the firms that used the program most in the quarter, the decline was steeper: 25% fewer certified applications than the previous year.
JPMorgan filed 516 certified applications from October through December 2025, down from 724 in October through December 2024, a drop of nearly 29%. That pushed the bank from the biggest financial user of the program in the first quarter of the prior fiscal year to the second biggest user in the same quarter this year. Goldman Sachs filed 101 certified applications after 256 a year earlier, a decline of more than 60%.
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Citi moved the other way, with filings up nearly 20% year over year. Barclays’ filings rose by nearly two-thirds, Morgan Stanley’s increased by more than a quarter and Capital One’s were up 4%.
The turn comes after Trump’s administration unveiled a $100,000 fee for the H-1B program late last September and added social media vetting requirements and a wage-based lottery system that gives the highest-paid applicants a better chance in the annual lottery. The lottery took place last month, but the Department of Labor figures do not show who won; they reflect certifications, not final visa approvals or lottery selections, and multiple filings can correspond to a single worker.
That means the data capture only part of the picture. Certified H-1B and similar visa applications are reviewed by the Labor Department to make sure a prospective immigrant worker will be paid similarly to other workers in similar roles and will not hurt employment for those workers. The financial firms named in the data either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment, and the next clear reading on whether the fee and new rules are reshaping hiring will come only when the later rounds of filings are tallied.
