DHS Invites Public Comment on H-1B Weighted Selection Rule

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has proposed a shift to a salary-based, weighted lottery for the H-1B visa program, inviting public comments through October 24, 2025. The rule, published for notice and comment, would move the annual selection away from a purely random draw and toward a system that gives more entries to registrations offering higher wages. DHS says the goal is to reward higher-paid — and presumably higher-skilled — job offers while still allowing lower-wage positions a chance at selection.

Under the proposal, the weighted lottery would use the Department of Labor’s Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics to assign entries based on the offered wage level. Wage Level IV would receive four entries, Level III three entries, Level II two entries, and Level I one entry. In practice, a single registration at Wage Level IV would be placed in the pool four times, increasing its odds when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services conducts the cap selection. DHS says the approach aims to reduce incentives to underpay foreign workers and to better align selection with the program’s statutory focus on specialty occupations.

DHS also outlines a candidate-centric process. Rather than selection based on the number of registrations filed for the same person, USCIS would treat each beneficiary as a unique candidate. If multiple employers submit registrations for one candidate, the beneficiary would be assigned the lowest wage level among those registrations for lottery weighting — a safeguard intended to limit gaming and maintain fairness. The rule also adds integrity checks to ensure registrations reflect bona fide job offers and consistent information across filings.

Policy changes — quick summary

• Weighted entries by offered wage
  • Level IV: 4 entries
  • Level III: 3 entries
  • Level II: 2 entries
  • Level I: 1 entry
• Candidate-focused selection
  • Each beneficiary is treated as a unique candidate, not a count of registrations.
• Anti-abuse guardrails
  • Multiple registrations for the same person cause assignment to the lowest wage level among those filings.
• Integrity checks
  • Verification steps to help ensure information matches across filings and that job offers are bona fide.

Important deadlines:
– Public comment period: September 24, 2025 – October 24, 2025
– Comments on associated information collections: through November 24, 2025
– Expected impact: changes are projected to affect the H-1B 2027 filing season

For official program details and the USCIS guidance page, see: USCIS’s H-1B specialty occupations page.

Background on the H-1B program

The H-1B program allows U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. Statutory caps limit new visas each fiscal year to 85,000, including 65,000 under the regular cap and 20,000 set aside for advanced degree holders.

DHS is responding to longstanding criticism that the current random system can favor volume-based registration tactics and does not always reflect the highest-skilled or best-compensated jobs.

Impact on applicants and employers

If finalized, the proposed selection method would likely shift incentives across the market:

• Higher-wage offers gain better odds. Employers offering at higher wage levels would obtain more entries and therefore improved selection chances.
• Potential employer responses
  • Some employers may raise offered pay to improve lottery odds.
  • Smaller companies and startups may face pressure to increase wages to stay competitive.
• Access for lower-wage roles
  • Level I and II registrations still retain a path to selection (one or two entries), so lower-wage positions are not eliminated.
• Candidate behavior
  • Candidates with competing offers might prefer roles with higher wage levels to boost their odds.
  • The candidate-centric rule — defaulting to the lowest wage level if multiple employers register the same person — reduces the benefit of multiple concurrent registrations and encourages clearer communication among candidates and employers.

Stakeholder views

• Supporters argue the change:
  • Better aligns H-1B issuance with the program’s statutory intent.
  • Discourages practices that lead to perceived unfairness, such as mass duplicate registrations and underpayment.
• Critics warn:
  • Early-stage firms and small regional employers might lose ground if they cannot match higher wage levels.
  • Potential impacts on innovation pipelines and local economies that rely on specialized talent.

DHS positions the candidate-centric approach and integrity checks as tools to reduce abuse and ensure fair competition based on job offer quality.

Integrity checks and administration

The proposed rule would add integrity checks intended to:

• Ensure registration data matches across employer filings.
• Confirm job offers are bona fide and that wage claims are not inflated or inconsistent.
• Reduce the chance of inconsistent or inflated wage claims and the effects of duplicative registrations.

Details of these checks are in the proposed rule, but the overarching intent is to increase program trust and limit gaming.

What stakeholders should do now

1. Note the comment deadlines:
   • Public rule comments: by October 24, 2025
   • Information-collection comments: by November 24, 2025
2. Review the proposed rule and consider submitting feedback on:
   • Whether the wage-level weighting is calibrated appropriately.
   • How integrity checks should be implemented without undue burden.
   • Potential impacts on small employers, startups, and regional employers.
3. Employers planning workforce needs multiple years ahead may want to:
   • Reassess compensation policies and budget planning.
   • Consider recruitment strategies under a wage-weighted environment.

Bottom line

If adopted, the H-1B selection would remain a lottery, but the odds would no longer be uniform. The wage-based weighting would tilt selection toward higher-paid roles, which DHS argues better serves the program’s purpose while retaining broader access. Employers, beneficiaries, trade groups, and labor organizations have a narrow window to comment on how the shift should be structured and how it will affect hiring and careers going forward.