Trump Administration Proposes To Scrap H-1B Lottery System, Floats New Rules

The United States has proposed to amend the regulations of the H-1B visa programme

The United States has proposed modifications to the H-1B visa programme regulations just days following President Donald Trump's proclamation to restrict it.

The Department of Homeland Security's new proposal aims to eliminate the current lottery system and implement "a weighted selection process that would generally favour the allocation of H-1B visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens, while maintaining the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels".

According to the proposal, selection would be determined by wage level categorization. Workers in the highest of four wage levels—those earning annual salaries of $162,528—would receive four entries in the selection pool, while those at the lowest tier would receive only one entry.

Nicole Gunara, Principal Immigration Attorney at Manifest Law, stated that this new proposal could fundamentally reshape global talent flow into the American 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 elaborated, "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 signed a proclamation instituting a $100,000 fee for each new application. The visa has traditionally allowed American companies to hire skilled foreign workers in sectors 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 explained.

While signing the proclamation, Trump emphasized that the "incentive is to hire American workers".

According to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Indians constitute 71 percent of all approved H-1B applications.

Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary, has characterized the H-1B non-immigrant visa program as one of the "most abused visa" systems currently operating in the US.

Indian IT corporations such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro depend heavily on H-1B visas, and the new fee structure could cost these companies billions. A direct consequence may include reduced hiring or relocation of jobs back to India.

This development coincides with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's visit to the United States for meetings with Trump administration officials in New York on Monday.