by Michael Cardman, Brightmine Senior Legal Editor
Higher-skilled and higher-paid workers would get a leg up for H-1B visas under a new plan from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Each year, there are 65,000 new visas available under the H-1B program for in-demand foreign workers with specialized skills, such as software developers, engineers, healthcare professionals and architects. An additional 20,000 H-1B visas are available for foreign nationals holding a master’s degree or higher from a US university.
Employers seeking H-1B visas must electronically register each candidate. If the number of registrations exceeds the H-1B quota, the DHS’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) runs a lottery.
Currently, that lottery is random. But now the DHS is proposing to change the lottery to weight registrations based on beneficiaries’ equivalent wage levels.
Specifically, the revised method of H-1B quota allocation would be based on the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) wage levels. Beneficiaries registered for the lottery would be entered into the selection pool using a weighted system based on their proffered wage (meaning the wage the employer intends to pay). Beneficiaries whose offered wage corresponds to Level 4 (the highest tier) of the wage structure would be entered into the pool four times. A Level 3 beneficiary would be entered three times; a Level 2 beneficiary would be entered twice; and a Level 1 beneficiary, once.
Employers would be required to indicate the appropriate occupational code, OEWS wage level and geographic location of employment in each candidate’s registration for the H-1B cap lottery.
These proposed changes follow a recent presidential proclamation requiring all new H-1B petitions to be accompanied by a $100,000 payment, starting September 21, 2025, and ending September 21, 2026, unless extended.
Employers may comment on the proposed rule through October 24, 2025, at regulations.gov under DHS Docket No. USCIS-2025-0040.
After the comment period ends, the DHS will respond to comments and possibly make revisions before publishing a final rule. This final rule will include a formal effective date, which generally must be no earlier than 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register.
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About the author
Michael Cardman
Senior Legal Editor, Brightmine
Michael Cardman has more than 20 years of experience in publishing and has specialized in employment law for more than 15 years. As a member of the Brightmine editorial team, he focuses on wage and hour compliance, including minimum wage, overtime, employee classification, hours worked, independent contractors and child labor.
Michael holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Virginia. Prior to joining Brightmine, he was the managing editor for Thompson Publishing Group’s library of HR publications. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing books, manuals and online tools covering a variety of topics such as wage and hour, employee leaves, employee benefits and compensation.
Connect with Michael on LinkedIn.
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