US Announces Changes to Selection Process of Foreigners Seeking to Win H-1B Visa Lottery
- The US Department of Homeland Security announced that it was overhauling the H-1B visa selection process
- The existing random lottery drew criticism for allowing employers to flood the pool with lower-paid foreign workers at the expense of American workers
- The new weighted selection rule will apply to the FY 2027 H-1B cap registration season
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The United States Department of Homeland Security announced that it was scrapping the random lottery used to award H-1B work visas to foreign nationals, replacing it with a system designed to favour higher-skilled and better-paid applicants.
The announcement, published by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), confirmed that the new weighted selection process would govern the fiscal year 2027 H-1B cap registration season.
Source: UGC
What Changes With the New H-1B Rule
Under the existing system, visa recipients were chosen at random from a pool of registered applicants.
Critics argued this opened the door to abuse, with some employers deliberately submitting large volumes of applications on behalf of lower-wage workers to game the odds.
The annual cap on H-1B visas stands at 65,000, with a separate allocation of 20,000 reserved for holders of advanced degrees from US institutions.
The new rule does not change these numbers but shifts how applicants within those limits are selected.
USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser explained the problem with the old approach, saying:
"The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers."
He added that the weighted system would "better serve Congress' intent for the H-1B program and strengthen America's competitiveness by incentivizing American employers to petition for higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers."
Trump Administration Ties Reform to Broader H-1B Changes
The rule is part of a wider set of changes to the H-1B programme under the Trump administration. It aligns with a Presidential Proclamation that already requires employers to pay an additional $100,000 per visa as a condition of eligibility, significantly raising the cost of sponsoring foreign workers.
Tragesser described the changes as consistent with the administration's broader agenda, stating:
"As part of the Trump Administration's commitment to H-1B reform, we will continue to demand more from both employers and aliens so as not to undercut American workers and to put America first."
The weighted selection process does not completely shut out lower-wage applicants but raises the probability that visas flow to the most qualified and best-compensated candidates first.
USCIS confirmed the final rule maintained the opportunity for employers at all wage levels to still compete for H-1B workers within the revised framework.
US speaks about employment based green cards
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that United States government published the categories of workers eligible to apply for an employment-based Green Card under three preference tiers.
Professionals with extraordinary ability, advanced degrees, and skilled trades all appear on the USCIS list of qualifying occupations.
Source: Legit.ng
