Trump Administration to Abandon Random H-1B Visa Lottery in Major Overhaul

The Trump Administration has announced a major overhaul of the H-1B visa program that will replace the long-standing lottery used to grant the visas for foreign workers with specialized qualifications with a new weighted system that favors higher-skilled and higher-paid workers. The rule, set to take effect on Feb. 26, 2026, will govern tens of thousands of H-1B visas issued each year, beginning with the fiscal year 2027 registration season. Up to 85,000 of the visas, which allow foreign-born professionals to fill roles in highly specialized fields, are available each year, including 20,000 for people with advanced degrees. Demand usually exceeds that annual cap.  Currently, U.S. companies vie for the limited visas every year in a purely random lottery.Under the new rule, however, applicants at the highest wage level will receive four entries, those in the next wage bracket will receive three entries, and so on. This means that an applicant at a higher salary level or with more advanced qualifications will be more likely to get a visa than someone with lower pay or less specialized skills. Lower-paid or lower-skilled workers, meanwhile, will not be excluded entirely, but their odds of being selected will be lower. The change is intended “to better protect the wages, working conditions, and job opportunities for American workers,” the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a Tuesday press release. While supporters of the H‑1B visa program argue it attracts global talent and fuels innovation, critics assert the system enables employers to hire foreign workers for lower pay than their American counterparts would earn. “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,” Matthew Tragesser, a spokesperson for the department’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said in a statement, adding, “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.”  But Dobrina M. Ustun, an immigration attorney, told Newsweek that the rule “risks unintentionally shutting out exactly the employers Congress intended the H-1B program to help.” “Prioritizing wage levels as a proxy for skill ignores how innovation, medical research, and early-stage companies actually function,” she said in a written statement to the outlet, “and it will disproportionately harm institutions that drive long-term economic growth and public benefit rather than short-term profits.” The rule will be published in the Federal Register on Dec. 29 and take effect 60 days later, in time for the fiscal 2027 H-1B registration. Petitions filed earlier will follow the old lottery system. The rule was finalized notably quickly, with the Department of Homeland Security releasing the text just days after it submitted a draft version to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs on Friday. The rule marks the latest move in the Trump Administration’s efforts to dramatically reshape American immigration policy.  Earlier this year, Trump also signed a proclamation to impose a $100,000 fee for H-1B applications. The move has faced multiple legal challenges; a judge rejected one, which was filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Association of American Universities and alleged the fee was unlawful, on Tuesday, though the groups may still appeal the decision. A group of Democratic states also sued over the fee earlier this month. Read more: H-1B Visas Have Been Transformed. Here’s What You Need to Know About the Changes “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,” Tragesser said. Trump has expressed support for allowing some skilled immigrants into the U.S. to take roles in key industries and help train American workers, a position that has put him at odds with some in his party, including MAGA stalwart Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. His Administration has sought to restrict immigration more broadly, pursuing an aggressive mass deportation agenda and moving to narrow legal pathways for entering the country—an effort it escalated in recent weeks after an Afghan national was arrested in connection with the shooting of two National Guard members of D.C.