Senator Tim Sheehy’s End H-1B Abuse Act of 2026 proposes a three-year pause on new visas, a reduced annual cap of 25,000, and a $200,000 minimum wage floor. The bill also targets outsourcing firms, eliminates the OPT program for international students, and removes dual-intent status, preventing H-1B holders from pursuing green cards or bringing family members to the United States.
- Senator Tim Sheehy introduced a bill to suspend new H-1B visas for three years starting in 2026.
- The legislation proposes a two hundred thousand dollar minimum salary and a one hundred thousand dollar petition fee.
- The annual H-1B cap would be slashed to twenty-five thousand from the current sixty-five thousand limit.
Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont., introduced legislation July 23 that would stop new H-1B visas for three years, require a $100,000 petition fee and sharply reduce the program’s later annual cap. The Senate proposal would also set a $200,000 minimum salary for every H-1B worker.
The measure, the End H-1B Abuse Act of 2026, would suspend issuance of new H-1B visas before limiting the annual cap to 25,000. The current figure identified in the proposal is 65,000.
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It would also bar third-party staffing and outsourcing companies from sponsoring H-1B workers. That restriction would directly affect employment models common in the information technology services sector.
Sheehy framed the bill as a response to alleged displacement of U.S. workers. He said the program should serve specialized positions that are difficult to fill, rather than help companies replace qualified Americans with lower-paid foreign workers.
"The H-1B program was created to address workforce shortages for specialized, difficult-to-fill positions – not to displace qualified, hardworking Americans with cheaper, foreign labor. We shouldn't be issuing work permits that make it easier to undercut American workers when we have the talent right here at home."
Sheehy also said the legislation would restore the program’s original purpose, close loopholes, strengthen guardrails and prioritize national security interests. The bill’s restrictions would affect employers and workers in different ways.
The bill would halt new visas before shrinking the annual cap
The proposal’s central sequence is a three-year suspension followed by a much smaller H-1B limit. Employers would lose access to new H-1B visas during the pause, then face a 25,000 annual cap if the program resumed under the bill.
| Proposed measure | Detail |
|---|---|
| New H-1B issuance | Suspended for three years |
| Annual cap afterward | Reduced from 65,000 to 25,000 |
| Minimum salary | $200,000 for every H-1B worker |
| Sponsorship restriction | Staffing and outsourcing models barred |
| Current program demand | USCIS said it reached the Fiscal Year 2027 cap on July 17, 2026 |
The salary requirement would apply across the program. Technology companies, healthcare providers and universities would confront a hiring freeze during the suspension and higher costs afterward.
The staffing ban would close another route into the program. Third-party companies could no longer sponsor workers through the outsourcing structures targeted by the bill.
USCIS announced July 17, 2026, that it had reached the Fiscal Year 2027 H-1B cap. That announcement came before Sheehy introduced the Senate bill.
Workers would lose family and green-card options
The legislation would end the H-1B program’s dual-intent feature. H-1B holders would no longer be able to adjust their status to permanent residency through the program.
Family members would face a separate restriction. H-1B workers could not bring spouses or children to the United States as H-4 dependents.
The effects would be especially broad for Indian professionals, who form the largest group of H-1B holders. The proposed wage floor and dependent ban could disrupt the employment and family arrangements used by Indian technology workers and their employers.
Indian IT firms would also face the proposed prohibition on staffing and outsourcing sponsorship. The bill would therefore affect both the structure of employment and the ability of workers to keep family members in the United States.
OPT would disappear from the student-to-work pathway
The bill would abolish Optional Practical Training, known as OPT. International students would lose the established route from U.S. higher education into employment in the country.
That change would reach applicants before they became H-1B workers. Students using OPT as a bridge to employer sponsorship would no longer have that program available if Congress enacted the proposal.
The proposed elimination sits alongside the bill’s other limits on long-term immigration. Workers would face restrictions on permanent-residence adjustments, while students would lose a commonly used transition into U.S. jobs.
The fee dispute unfolded after the Senate bill’s introduction
The House companion came earlier. Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., introduced H.R. 8443 on April 22, 2026.
Crane said the federal government should serve citizens rather than the profit margins of large corporations. He also said Congress should prevent the H-1B system from excluding Americans qualified for the same jobs.
"The federal government should work for hardworking citizens, not the profit margins of massive corporations. We owe it to the American people to prevent the broken H-1B system from boxing them out of jobs they are qualified to perform."
A federal court separately struck down the $100,000 fee in June 2026, describing it as an "unauthorized tax." The District Court of Massachusetts issued that ruling.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay the ruling on July 24, 2026, one day after Sheehy introduced the Senate bill. The sequence leaves the proposed statutory fee alongside a live federal court dispute, rather than making the appellate decision the reason for the bill’s introduction.
The Senate measure would write the charge into law if enacted. It would also combine that fee with the visa pause, the smaller cap and the wage requirement.
The legislation now has versions in both chambers. Its proposed limits would reach employers, H-1B workers, dependents and international students, with the annual cap already reached for Fiscal Year 2027.
