H-1B Visa Changes Approved by White House

Summary

A proposed Department of Homeland Security rule that would alter how H-1B visas are allocated has cleared review by the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), according to Bloomberg Law.Federal regulators cleared a proposed rule that would apply a "weighted selection process" by replacing the current random lottery with a new system that gives priority in the selection process to registrants who meet or exceed certain criteria, such as wage or education level.Newsweek reached out to the DHS and the OIRA for comment.Why It MattersThe H-1B program supplies tens of thousands of specialty-occupation workers to U.S. employers each year and is heavily used by the technology sector. Any shift from a random lottery to a weighted, wage- or skill-based system could change hiring incentives for employers, affecting which foreign professionals obtain U.S. work authorization.The H-1B cap of 85,000 slots annually influences employers' ability to hire specialized foreign workers in fields including engineering, computer science and business specialties. Any change to the selection criteria could incentivize employers to offer higher wages to improve odds in a weighted system or change recruitment strategies. Stock image of an H-1B visa. Stock image of an H-1B visa. Getty Images What To KnowFederal review clearance by the OIRA typically preceded publication of a proposed rule in the Federal Register and a public comment period. The next step is a Federal Register publication, followed by a 30- to 60-day comment window and a multistep process before any final rule could take effect.The proposed weighted-selection concept echoes a 2021 DHS plan under President Donald Trump's first administration that had sought to rank and select petitions by wage tiers (OES wage levels IV down to I), an approach that the Trump administration argued would prioritize higher-paid, highly skilled hires. That earlier plan faced opposition, was withdrawn by the Biden administra...