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By Gabe Whisnant and Dan Gooding
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The Trump administration made its next move Tuesday in attempting to reform the H-1B visa, publishing a plan to end the lottery-based selection process.
In a draft notice shared with the Federal Register, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that it would replace the current application system with one that favors high-paid jobs. The plan comes after President Donald Trump announced a new $100,000 fee on Friday.
When reached for further comment, DHS referred Newsweek to the Federal Register.
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Why It Matters
The H-1B visa has become a recent focus of the Trump administration as it seeks to reform the legal immigration route that is heavily relied on by tech companies, the health care industry and colleges. Critics of the visa have said that it has been abused for too long by Big Tech, while advocates have said that a measured approach is needed to ensure the U.S. continues to compete on the global stage.
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What To Know
The new proposal from DHS comes after the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) reviewed and approved moving forward with the changes earlier this year.
Currently, the majority of new H-1B visas are selected through a lottery, with employers filing applications with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), which then allocates the visas. Big companies like Amazon, Meta, and Google often come out with more H-1Bs because they likely file a large number of applications.
Under the new DHS proposal, the lottery, as it exists now, would be scrapped in favor of a weighted selection process focused on wages. Higher-paying roles would have a higher chance of selection, based on the wage band they select during the application process.
The notice said that this would mean higher-skilled workers would be entering the U.S., which would "benefit the economy and increase the United States’ competitive edge in attracting the ‘best and the brightest’ in the global labor market". This reflects ongoing concerns that H-1B workers are paid less than prevailing wages paid to American-born workers, which leads to companies favoring foreign workers.
DHS said the weighted selection would only kick in if annual requests exceeded the 85,000 yearly cap. Currently, there are often more than 200,000 applications annually.
What is an H-1B visa?
The H-1B is a work-based visa, allowing immigrants to temporarily live and work in the U.S.
H-1B workers are tied to an employer, with companies generally being required to sponsor the visa holder for their visa term. Visas are issued for three years, and can be renewed for a further three.
How Many H-1B Visas Are Issued Each Year?
The yearly cap for lottery-allocated H-1B visas is 85,000, but DHS often allocates thousands more through renewals. For fiscal 2025, USCIS issued around 400,000 H-1Bs, with the majority being renewals.
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H1-B Visa Requirements: What Applicants Need
The H-1B was designed to allow high-skilled workers to temporarily come to the U.S. The program is dominated by Big Tech and health care companies.
DHS requires applicants to prove they have the desired skills and experience for the job role in question, including holding a U.S. bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent.
Companies must get approval from the federal government to take part in the program, with DHS and the Department of Labor involved in monitoring wage and work conditions.
Is There a $100,000 Fee for H1-B Visas?
As of Sunday, September 21, the Trump administration says there is now a $100,000 fee for new H-1B applicants. There are still questions over the new fee's implementation and whether certain industries, such as health care, will be exempt.
What People Are Saying
John Lettieri, CEO of the Economic Innovation Group, a bipartisan policy organization, told Newsweek: "While moving H-1B away from a pure lottery system is a worthy goal, the administration's proposed rule will have serious unintended consequences. Under the proposed rule, an experienced worker in a relatively low-wage occupation will be given priority over a younger worker in a high-wage occupation, even in cases where the younger worker is set to make significantly higher wages.
"This is true because the administration is ranking wages within occupations rather than on an absolute basis, and without regard to the age of the applicant. In practice, that means that a graphic designer making $43k, for example, will have a higher chance of securing a visa than a young research scientist making $170k. Factor in the $100k fee, and the administration's changes to H-1B will create two significant, structural biases against young high-earners who are currently abroad and seeking visa approval."
Todd Schulte, president of bipartisan political group FWD.us, speaking to Newsweek about the H-1B on Monday: "We should be thinking about reforming, improving, expanding this, and other immigration avenues that allow top talent from around the world to come to the US. We should be making it easier for companies in a predictable fashion to hire people. We should be making it easier for all those people to have mobility between employers, to go to startups and ultimately to get permanent residency and naturalize."
DHS in its Federal Register notice on the proposed change: "DHS believes that salary generally is a reasonable proxy for skill level. DHS data show a correlation between higher salaries and higher skill and wage levels. As a position’s required skill level increases relative to the occupation, so, too, may the wage level, and necessarily, the corresponding prevailing wage. A proffered wage that corresponds to the prevailing wage rate reflecting a higher wage level is generally a reasonable proxy for the higher level of skill required for the position."
What's Next
The DHS proposal will officially be published on Wednesday. It will then be open to public comment before further decisions are made.
Updated 09/23/2025 at 1:40 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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