DHS Proposes New H-1B Visa Process Favoring High-Skilled Workers

The proposed policy seeks to replace the current random selection process for allocating H-1B visa registrations.

Published: 9/24/2025, 11:52:07 AM EDT

DHS Proposes New H-1B Visa Process Favoring High-Skilled Workers — A U.S. flag and an H-1B Visa application, in this illustration photograph taken on Sept. 22, 2025. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Sept. 24 proposed that further changes be made to the H-1B visa selection process to prioritize higher-skilled and higher-paid foreign employees.

The proposed policy, published on the federal register website, seeks to replace the current random selection process for allocating H-1B visa registrations with a weighted system when annual demands for the visas exceed the 85,000 statutory limit.

The DHS stated that the proposed policy changes would “better serve the Congressional intent for the H-1B program” while preserving employers’ ability to secure H-1B workers at “all wage levels.”

Under the proposed policy, prospective workers would be assigned a wage level based on the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.

Workers with the highest wage level would be entered into the selection pool four times, while those with the lowest wage level would be entered only once.

“Facilitating the admission of higher skilled workers ‘would benefit the economy and increase the United States’ competitive edge in attracting the best and the brightest in the global labor market,’ consistent with the goals of the H-1B program,” the DHS stated.

The proposal is now open for a 30-day public comment period before it can be finalized.

The H-1B visa program allows U.S. companies to temporarily employ foreign workers for jobs that require “the theoretical and practical application of a body of specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or the equivalent in the specific specialty.”

The DHS released its proposal just days after President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on Sept. 19 introducing a one-time $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications.

The proclamation states that the H-1B visa program was designed to bring in foreign workers on a temporary basis “to perform additive, high-skilled functions, but it has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the six-figure fee would only apply to new visa applications, not to renewals or current visa holders.

“Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter,” Leavitt stated in a social media post.

A White House fact sheet on the presidential proclamation states that U.S. companies are “laying off their American technology workers and seemingly replacing them with H-1B workers.”

The fact sheet notes the substantial rise in H-1B workers in tech-based fields, stating that these workers made up 32 percent of the IT industry in 2003, while in recent years, that figure has exceeded 65 percent.

Joseph Lord contributed to this report.

From The Epoch Times