The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced significant changes to the H-1B lottery process that will take effect on February 27, 2026. The new beneficiary-centric lottery system will allow each applicant only one entry, regardless of how many employers register them, while a new wage-weighted system will favor higher-wage petitions, increasing the chances for large corporations to secure H-1B visas.
Key Details:
- New lottery system: Each applicant receives only one entry.
- Wage-weighted system: Higher salaries yield more entries (Level IV gets 4 entries, Level III gets 3).
- Supplemental fee: A new $100,000 fee applies to certain petitions filed from abroad.
- Enforcement initiative: Project Firewall aims to address wage suppression and displacement of American workers by H-1B holders.
The changes come amid rising concerns over layoffs in the tech industry, with many American engineers questioning whether these layoffs are strategically timed to make way for cheaper H-1B labor. The ongoing demand for H-1B visas from large firms continues despite significant job cuts in the domestic workforce.
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Source: @ChiefEngineerCE