US replaces system to select H-1B visa petitions; favours higher-skilled, higher-paid individuals

New York/Washington: In a significant change to the H-1B visa program, the Trump administration is replacing the random lottery system that selected visa beneficiaries with a process that will prioritise allocation of visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid individuals.

The new guidance is the latest amid an intensifying crackdown by the Trump administration on immigration, both legal and illegal, as well as the H1B visas, which are used by corporations in the US to hire foreign talent. Indian professionals are among the largest cohort of H1B visa holders in the US.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said that it is amending regulations governing the H-1B work visa selection process to prioritise the allocation of visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid individuals to better protect the wages, working conditions, and job opportunities for American workers.

The new rule is effective February 27, 2026, and will be in place for the FY 2027 H-1B cap registration season.  

The new system replaces the random lottery for selecting visa recipients with a process that gives greater weight to those with higher skills, it said.

The agency said that the lottery system of selecting H-1B visa applicants was rife with abuse and was exploited by companies to bring in foreign labour at low wages.

“The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by US employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers,” US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesman Matthew Tragesser said.  "The new weighted selection will better serve Congress’ intent for the H-1B program and strengthen America’s competitiveness by incentivising American employers to petition for higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers. With these regulatory changes and others in the future, we will continue to update the H-1B program to help American businesses without allowing the abuse that was harming American workers.”  USCIS said the rule is another crucial step to strengthen the integrity of the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program. It is in line with other key changes the administration has made, such as the Presidential Proclamation that requires employers to pay an additional USD 100,000 per visa as a condition of eligibility.  “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,” said Tragesser.   The number of H-1B visas issued annually is limited to 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for US advanced degree holders.

USCIS said the current random selection process has often been criticised for allowing unscrupulous employers to exploit it by flooding the selection pool with lower-skilled foreign workers paid at low wages, to the detriment of the American workforce.  To address these concerns, the final rule will implement a weighted selection process that would increase the probability that H-1B visas are allocated to higher-skilled and higher-paid individuals while maintaining the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels.

In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, the administration has announced a slew of measures to curtail abuse in the H-1B visa program. The Trump administration announced a USD 100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications.

From December 15, the State Department has also begun an enhanced screening and vetting of H-1B and its dependent H-4 visas, checking the social media profiles of the applicants.

As a result of this guideline, several H-1B visa interviews scheduled across India have been postponed and pushed months ahead, leaving many visa holders who had travelled to India for their visa stamping stranded.

The State Department has underscored that a US visa is a privilege, not a right, and said that it uses all available information in visa screening and vetting to identify visa applicants who are inadmissible to the United States, including those who pose a threat to US national security or public safety.