US Overhauls H-1B Visa Selection: Top-Paid, High-Skill Foreign Talent Gets Favour – Here’s How | World News
New Delhi: The United States announced comprehensive changes in the H-1B visa program for foreign workers. The Department of Internal Security (DHS) introduced a proposed “weighted selection process olan aimed at giving priority to higher wage and higher skilled foreign employees.
The H-1B lottery will be very different for 2027. Employers now face a $ 100,000 petition fee per worker. The new offer is changing the visa selection mechanism further.
DHS issued an offer on 24 September 2025 in the Federal Registration titled ‘Registration Accounts and Petitions Weighted Plations for Registration Selection and Petitions Wanting to Fil H-1B petitions’. Public comments and feedback were invited.
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The goal is higher skilled and higher paid positions are preferred. Lower wage jobs and positions with less skill requirement may see that the visa’s chances of securing the visa are reduced.
Existing process
Currently, employers are electronically registered for every foreign workers they plan to hire. If it is randomly selected in the H-1B lottery, employers may submit CAP-Eyek petitions.
The lottery is completely random. Utilitors are foreign employees and petitions are US companies.
Weighted choice
Under the proposed system, the lottery is mainly vulnerable to random election. Employers who recruit for higher fees or higher skilled positions provide an advantage. Vocational employment and wage statistics (OEWS) determine the ranking of wage levels.
OEWS Wage Level IV workers, H-1B selection pool receives four entries, level III three, level II and level I One. Every worker is counted only once for visa allocation, no matter how many entries.
The fee offered or the fee that the employer wants is the primary factor in the ranking. The aim is to allocate limited visas to higher skilled and higher valuable positions.
Effect on the H-1B program
The H-1B program provides 85,000 visa per year, including 20,000 reserved for those with advanced US degrees. The weighted system supports high -wage and high skilled employees. Lower -paid or lower skill positions can no longer secure visas.
The petition fee of $ 100,000 adds another obstacle. Employers will now weigh the application cost against potential skill needs.
Both the wage and the weighted selection process is expected to reshape the H-1B view starting from the 2027 visa season. American companies and foreign professionals are facing a fundamental way for employment in the United States.
