&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "End of H-1B lottery? How Donald Trump’s new visa rules could hit Indians")
The US President Donald Trump administration is set to replace the long-standing H-1B work visa lottery with a weighted selection system that gives preference to highly skilled, higher-paid foreign workers. The decision is expected to make it much tougher for entry-level professionals, including many from India, to obtain work visas in America.
The revamp follows a series of measures by the Trump administration to restructure the visa programme, which critics argue has enabled companies to hire overseas workers at lower wages, while supporters say it boosts innovation.
The Department of Homeland Security said the new rule will come into force on February 27, 2026, and will apply to the allocation of around 85,000 H-1B visas annually starting with the fiscal 2027 registration season.
“The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by US employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers,” said US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesman Matthew Tragesser.
A federal judge ruled to impose $100,000 fee
In a press release announcing the new rule says "it is in line with other key changes the administration has made, such as the Presidential Proclamation that requires employers to pay an additional $100,000 per visa as a condition of eligibility.”
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The press release, which was released on Tuesday, also added that the new system will “implement a weighted selection process that will increase the probability that H-1B visas are allocated to higher-skilled and higher-paid foreign workers". It will be enforced on February 27, 2026, and set to apply to the upcoming H-1B cap registration season.
Meanwhile, a federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration may proceed with imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, dealing a blow to US technology firms that depend on recruiting skilled foreign professionals. In a previous report, it was indicated that Indian IT companies, including TCS, would be among those most affected by the move.
