Trump administration mulls scrapping H-1B lottery system, proposes salary-based selection system
If okayed, the rule would give applicants with higher salaries multiple chances in the lottery
PTC Web Desk: The Trump administration has proposed major changes to the H-1B visa programme, aiming to replace the current lottery system with a salary-based selection process. If approved, the rule would give applicants with higher salaries multiple chances in the lottery, while those with lower salaries would receive only one.
Under the new framework, for example, an engineer earning $150,000 at a company like Meta could have several entries, while a junior developer at a startup making $70,000 might get just one. Experts say this shift would favour established companies that can afford to pay top salaries, while reducing opportunities for smaller firms that rely on younger, international talent. It could also push the US workforce toward more senior, higher-paid roles and redefine global competition for skilled workers.
Explaining the impact, experts say if this rule goes into effect, the H-1B lottery will no longer be purely random. Instead, higher-paid candidates will have significantly better chances of being selected, while recent graduates and early-career workers will face much steeper odds.
This move follows President Donald Trump’s recent proclamation introducing a $100,000 fee for each new H-1B application. The visa programme, which allows US companies to hire foreign professionals in fields like technology and engineering, has long been awarded through a random lottery system.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers defended the proposal, saying: “President Trump promised to put American workers first. This action discourages companies from abusing the system, keeps wages from being driven down, and gives certainty to businesses that genuinely need high-skilled workers.”
Trump echoed the message, stressing that the new rule creates an incentive to hire American workers first.
Indians are the biggest beneficiaries of the H-1B programme, accounting for 71% of all approved applications, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Indian IT giants such as TCS, Infosys, and Wipro depend heavily on H-1B visas, and analysts warn that the new fee could cost these firms billions of dollars. The result may be fewer hires in the US or a shift of jobs back to India.
White House staff secretary Will Scharf called the H-1B programme one of the “most abused visa systems” in the US.
The proposal comes as India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal meet Trump administration officials in New York to discuss bilateral ties.