H‑1B and visa tightening

H-1B visas are getting harder to win and harder to use as the Trump administration layers new fees, new selection rules, and tighter reviews onto legal immigration. (uscis.gov) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says the H-1B cap for fiscal year 2027 was filled during the initial registration period, and a new weighted selection rule took effect on February 27, 2026 for that season. The agency says the rule favors higher-skilled and higher-paid applicants instead of a straight random draw. (uscis.gov) That change follows an earlier anti-fraud overhaul that took effect on March 4, 2024, when the Department of Homeland Security moved to a beneficiary-centric lottery and added integrity checks to curb duplicate registrations. A separate modernization rule then took effect on January 17, 2025, rewriting parts of the specialty-occupation standard and adding other compliance requirements. (federalregister.gov 1) (federalregister.gov 2) The biggest jolt came on September 19, 2025, when President Donald Trump signed a proclamation requiring certain new H-1B petitions filed on or after September 21, 2025 to include an extra $100,000 payment. USCIS says that payment is now a condition of eligibility for covered petitions. (whitehouse.gov) (uscis.gov) A Cato Institute analysis by David J. Bier, cited this week by The Economic Times, found student visas were down about 40% and H-1B visas about 25% as legal immigration fell faster than illegal entries. The same report said legal immigration accounted for nearly 72% of the overall decline in inflows and that the cuts were about 2.5 times the drop in illegal immigration. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) (cato.org) For employers, the program still covers jobs that require specialized knowledge and at least a bachelor’s degree in a directly related field, including engineering, medicine, accounting, law, and education. The annual cap remains 85,000 visas, with 65,000 in the regular cap and 20,000 reserved for people with qualifying U.S. master’s degrees or higher. (uscis.gov) Supporters of the crackdown say the system had been used to undercut U.S. workers, especially in information technology outsourcing. The White House proclamation argued some employers used H-1B hiring to suppress wages and replace American staff, particularly in computer-related jobs. (whitehouse.gov) Business groups and immigration lawyers have argued the opposite for years, saying tighter rules can choke hiring in technology, engineering, and university research, especially when student visas are also falling. Newsweek’s recent coverage framed the combined effect as worsening approval odds for applicants even before any petition reaches final adjudication. (newsweek.com) (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Congress is also weighing longer-term restrictions. Senate bill S.2928, the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2025, was introduced by Senator Chuck Grassley on September 29, 2025 and referred to the Judiciary Committee, though it has not advanced beyond introduction. (congress.gov) The result is a legal immigration system that now asks more money from employers, gives more advantage to higher-wage filings, and applies more scrutiny across the process. For would-be H-1B workers and the schools and companies that feed that pipeline, the odds are no longer shaped by one lottery alone. (uscis.gov) (federalregister.gov)