The US has unveiled plans to make more changes to the H-1B visa programme just days after President Donald Trump announced a steep hike in fees to $100,000.
The Department of Homeland Security seeks to abandon the existing lottery system in favour of a weighted selection process. “This is aimed at ensuring H-1B visas for higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens, while maintaining the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels”, says the DHS.
According to the proposal, the selection will be based on the wage level. Workers in the highest of the four wage levels earning an annual salary of $162,528 will receive four entries into the selection pool, which will increase their selection probability. Those at the lowest tier will get only one entry.
Nicole Gunara, Principal Immigration Attorney, Manifest Law said the new proposal could reshape how global talent flows into the US economy.
“In effect, an engineer offered $150,000 at Meta might now have multiple lottery entries, while a junior developer at a startup earning $70,000 might only get one. This tilts the system toward established companies that can pay at the top of the market and away from emerging firms that rely on younger international talent”, Gunara said. Moreover the rule could push the shift towards a more senior, higher-paid tech workforce and redefine how the country competes globally for skills.
She explained, “If this rule goes into effect, the H-1B lottery will no longer be purely random. Instead, each applicant’s odds will be weighted by salary level. A candidate in a top wage tier could receive multiple entries in the lottery, while someone at an entry-level salary may only get one. That means higher-paid, senior roles will have significantly better chances of selection, while recent graduates and early-career workers will face much steeper odds.”
Last week, Trump had signed a proclamation announcing a $100,000 fee for each new application. The visa allowed for companies in the US to hire skilled foreign workers in fields such as technology and engineering through a lottery system.
“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and this common-sense action does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down wages. It also gives certainty to American businesses who actually want to bring high-skilled workers to our great country but have been trampled on by abuses of the system”, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers clarified.
While signing the proclamation, Trump said that the “incentive is to hire American workers”.
Indians make up 71 per cent of all the approved H-1B applications, according to data by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary had said that the H-1B non-immigrant visa program is one of the “most abused visa” systems currently in the US.
Indian IT giants such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro rely heavily on H-1B visas and the new fee could cost the companies billions. A direct outcome would be reduced hiring or shifting jobs back to India.
This comes amid a visit to the US by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal to meet Trump administration officials in New York on Monday.
