H -1B Visa: Considering the ‘weighted selection process’ to hire foreigners to us, draft DHS new rule
The Donald Trump administration is considering introducing a new process for H -1B hiring under the capped portion of the system. The Homeland Security Department sent a proposal to review the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The capped part of the system means that every year the statutory cap fixed by the Congress. Cap is 85,000 slots, with 20,000 reserved for workers who have a master’s degree. University and Research Institutes are eligible for cap-free visa. For 2026, USCIS has already discontinued the process as they announced on Friday that adequate petitions were submitted to reach the annual cap, which means that there would be no lottery for FY 2026. In the current system, there is a random lottery each year for visas under CAP. After the lottery, employers with winning entries submit petitions to workers sponsoring workers joining their companies around October. In the first term of Donald Trump, DHS came with a selection process based on the wages offered for a position instead of random lottery, so that companies appoint more high-skilled workers rather than filling their positions with low-pay foreign workers.This rule was sheltered by the Biden administration in 2021, one of the many introduced as part of the “Buy American, Rent American” initiative. The draft rules attracted over 1,000 public comments, many of which argued that it would significantly reduce the number of H -1B workers, Bloomberg reported.
H-1B: Lottery vs weighted selection process
The lottery system was brought so that no company or applicant gets any favor. But large companies can apply for more visas, resulting in more H -1 BB to such companies. In January, the Institute for Progress, a Nonpartison Think Tank examined the innovation policy, swam to the idea of eliminating the H -1B lottery. It was argued that 88 percent of the applicants could be increased in the economic value of the visa program, evaluating on the basis of seniority or salary.
