Recently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officially announced a reform plan for the H-1B visa lottery system, replacing the previous random selection process with a “wage-weighted lottery.” This new policy is set to be implemented starting from February 27, 2026. The change is considered one of the most substantial alterations to the H-1B system in recent years. So, how will this new policy affect applicants, companies, and employers? And how should we perceive this reform?
In September 2025, former President Trump issued an executive order increasing the application fee for new H-1B visas from $2,000-$5,000 to $100,000 for applicants outside the U.S. By the end of 2025, DHS unveiled the new wage-weighted lottery system for H-1B visas. Under the new policy, H-1B applications will be weighted based on the salary levels set by the U.S. Department of Labor. The higher the salary level, the more chances an applicant will have in the lottery pool. This means that the selection rate for H-1B visas will no longer rely solely on “luck” but will be directly linked to the position and salary, favoring applicants with higher wage levels.
Legal practitioner Yue Xingzhi believes that the “new H-1B policy may have different practical impacts on employers depending on the size of their companies.” He stated, “Large U.S. employers like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple, who sponsor thousands of H-1B visa holders, will continue to maintain a strong advantage. However, small and medium-sized employers, such as startups, may experience increased costs and uncertainty, leading to a reduced willingness to provide employer sponsorship.”
Yue Xingzhi pointed out that under the new wage-weighted policy, increasing one’s chances in the lottery is no longer a matter of mere “probability”, luck, or employing past tactics such as multiple applications or fake job positions. The new policy requires companies to provide genuine job offers for H-1B applicants during registration, with subsequent salary, position, and location information needing to match the initial offer; otherwise, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may reject or revoke approvals.
It is worth noting that the new policy does not exclude recent graduates but offers a more realistic competitive environment. The new lottery system still maintains a legitimate pathway for entry-level positions, with applicants at level one salaries still included in the lottery pool without setting a minimum wage threshold or directly eliminating entry-level applicants based on wage level. Yue Xingzhi emphasized this point.
He believes that the wage-weighted mechanism of the new policy brings about several changes: firstly, reducing “fraudulent filings”, curbing low-quality employer sponsorships, and enhancing the relative fairness for genuine recent graduates; secondly, encouraging employers to provide higher-quality positions for recent graduates, outlining clearer responsibilities and offering more reasonable salary placements; thirdly, raising the requirements for international students, as highly skilled international students are more likely to gain long-term employment, contributing more significantly to the U.S. economy, aligning with U.S. national interests, and potentially creating more opportunities for obtaining green cards.
From a professional perspective, Yue Xingzhi mentioned, “H-1B visas are mainly concentrated in technical, computer science, engineering, healthcare, and other professional fields. Students in humanities, social sciences, languages, and arts may have lower chances of being offered high-paying positions by employers, potentially further marginalizing them in the weighted lottery environment.” He added, “Therefore, for those considering studying abroad, the choice of profession plays a crucial role in determining the probability of future H-1B approval.”
For applicants with strong professional abilities, exploring other fast-track immigration pathways, such as the National Interest Waiver (NIW) green card, could be considered. Yue Xingzhi recommended that given the current evolvement of the H-1B system, applying for the National Interest Waiver within the EB-2 category is a viable option. This pathway eliminates the need for employer sponsorship and labor certification, allowing for changing employers and positions anytime without restrictions, unlike the permanent labor certification (PERM) process that requires restarting with each job change.
Looking at the data, India stands as the largest beneficiary of H-1B visas, with government statistics indicating that 71% of approvals come from India, while Chinese approvals account for 11.7%, significantly lower than those from India. Yue Xingzhi pointed out, “This is not necessarily because Indian students are more skilled than Chinese students or have higher productivity. The main reasons lie in Indians being more prevalent in large corporations and mature outsourcing systems, while Chinese individuals tend to be scattered and lack streamlined information channels with less sharing of experiences among peers.”
Yue Xingzhi concluded, “The design of the H-1B lottery system was intended for employers to offer genuine positions, requiring each candidate to submit one registration. Yet, practical misuse has been evident. Reforming the H-1B system embodies the Trump administration’s ‘America First’ governance philosophy, undoubtedly safeguarding the U.S. labor market. The core goal of the new H-1B policy is not to reduce immigration numbers but to elevate the threshold for immigration quality, serving ‘high-value talent’ rather than ‘low-cost labor.’ However, the profit-seeking nature of capital will continue driving companies to seek cost reductions, and the contradictions between policy and reality need to be reconciled in practice. Therefore, the actual effectiveness of the new H-1B policy remains to be verified over time.”