What Now? H-1B Lottery System Scrapped

In an attempt to meet the expectations of Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ policy, US adminstration has been bringing in sweeping changes to the existing immigration rules from the past six months. One of the most impacted section of individuals because of these new regulations are H1-B Visa holders. 

After hiking the Visa fees exorbitantly a few months ago, the Trump’s administration has now decided to scrap the long-standing lottery system for granting H1-B Visas to applicants and replace it with wage and skill based selection.

The US Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday announced that it would be prioritising higher skilled and higher paid foreign workers instead of the existing procedure where the applications are being randomly picked. 

The DHS said in a statement that the move is aimed to give bigger opportunity and weight to those individuals who possess higher skills among the applicants. The new rules will come into effect from February 27, 2026 and will be applicable to all applicants for the 2027 Financial Year. 

Now, this rule when coupled with the $ 100,000 entry fee for H1-B applications with hike in wages will make it very difficult for MNCs and other companies to deploy foreign employees under this visa program. This is going to be another stringent mechanism which will impact thousands of Indians who are waiting for H1-B approvals. 

This decision follows a series of earlier actions by the Trump administration to revamp the entire immigration process and curb abuse of the H-1B visa system, which allows companies to hire employees from other countries at lower wages than they would need to pay local talent.

Every year, the number of H1-B visas issued to job aspirants was capped at 65,000 and an additional 20,000 for those with master’s degree or higher. The number of applications will remain unchanged despite these new norms.