- Major tech companies have slashed H-1B filings by 50% following new federal rules and higher petition costs.
- The FY 2027 H-1B cap was reached under a new wage-weighted selection system favoring higher-paid applicants.
- A new $100,000 supplemental fee for workers abroad makes entry-level foreign labor significantly more expensive for employers.
(UNITED STATES) — U.S. immigration officials and new federal rules have driven a sharp drop in H-1B filings by large technology companies as higher petition costs and a wage-weighted selection system reshape hiring.
USCIS said on March 31, 2026, that the FY 2027 H-1B cap had been reached, marking the first filing cycle under a system that now favors higher-paid applicants. The agency said, “USCIS has received enough electronic registrations for unique beneficiaries during the initial registration period to reach the fiscal year 2027 H-1B numerical allocations. including the advanced degree exemption (master’s cap).”
That shift has landed at the same time as broader cutbacks across the tech sector. Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have all reduced jobs while employers face what the administration described as an effort to make foreign labor more expensive than domestic hiring.
A new $100,000 supplemental fee took effect on September 21, 2025, for new H-1B petitions filed for beneficiaries outside the United States. The charge does not apply to renewals, extensions or change-of-employer petitions for workers already in the country.
Then, on February 27, 2026, the government replaced the random H-1B lottery with a wage-weighted selection system for FY 2027. Under that system, petitions tied to higher DOL Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics wage levels receive better odds, while Level I workers face the lowest probability of selection.
USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser laid out the administration’s reasoning on December 23, 2025. “The existing random selection process of H-1B registrations was exploited and abused by U.S. employers who were primarily seeking to import foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers. The new weighted selection will better serve Congress’ intent. by incentivizing American employers to petition for higher-paid, higher-skilled foreign workers.”
The White House had already linked the fee increase to layoffs in the sector when it released a fact sheet on September 21, 2025. It said, “One company was approved for 5,189 H-1B workers in FY 2025, while laying off roughly 16,000 U.S. employees this year. President Trump is imposing higher costs on companies seeking to use the H-1B program in order to address the abuse of the program.”
The result has been a broad pullback in H-1B filings, especially for roles that do not command top wages. Employers that once filed at scale now appear to be narrowing petitions to smaller groups of senior and specialized workers who can clear both the new cost hurdle and the wage-based selection process.
Amazon’s certified H-1B applications fell from 4,647 in Q1 FY 2025 to 3,057 in Q1 FY 2026. Google and Meta each saw filing volumes for new H-1B visas decline by approximately 50% year-over-year as of early 2026.
Across the program, eligible registrations for FY 2026 dropped to 343,981 from 470,342 in FY 2025, a 26.9% decline. That fall points to a filing season with fewer speculative entries and more selective recruiting, as employers weigh immigration costs against tighter budgets and job cuts.
The changes have altered the economics of hiring from abroad. A company filing for a new worker outside the United States now faces a one-time $100,000 fee on top of existing petition expenses, making lower-paid or entry-level roles harder to justify.
That pressure lands hardest on international students and recent graduates. Workers at Level I and Level II wages now face weaker odds in the wage-weighted selection system, even if an employer wants to sponsor them.
For current H-1B holders, the picture is mixed. They are shielded from the $100,000 fee when employers file renewals, extensions or change-of-employer petitions, but they still face requests for evidence and a leaner hiring market if they lose their jobs.
The new rules have also raised concerns beyond visa selection. Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond warned in Oct 2025 that high immigration costs could push IT operations offshore to Canada or India instead of expanding workforces in the United States.
That warning speaks to a broader shift in how companies may respond. Rather than abandon global hiring, employers may reserve U.S. filings for a smaller share of workers and place other functions in lower-cost locations abroad.
For years, large technology firms dominated the H-1B system through high filing volumes and broad recruiting pipelines. Now the combination of layoffs, a wage-weighted selection system and the $100,000 supplemental fee has cut into that model.
The new rules also sharpen a divide inside the foreign worker pool. Senior engineers and specialists tied to Level IV wages stand in a stronger position, while younger workers entering the labor market face lower odds of selection before they can establish careers in the United States.
That shift may reverberate through universities as well. International students often rely on a path from graduation to Optional Practical Training to H-1B sponsorship, and a system that rewards higher wages makes that step harder for new graduates whose salaries start at lower levels.
Employers, meanwhile, appear to be recalibrating rather than walking away from the program. The filing decline suggests companies still want access to foreign talent, but they are choosing cases with a better chance of success under the new rules.
USCIS has framed the change as a move toward higher-paid, higher-skilled workers. Its H-1B cap season page carries the agency’s March 31, 2026 cap announcement and outlines the annual registration process.
The wage-based ranking itself stems from a DHS rule published in the Federal Register. The weighted selection process for H-1B petitions took the program away from a random drawing and tied selection odds to wage levels.
Government data also tracks which employers continue to file in volume. The USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub provides employer-level figures that show how filing patterns have changed.
The filing drop comes after years of debate over whether the H-1B program depresses wages or fills gaps in highly skilled fields. The administration’s answer has been to raise the cost of sponsoring workers abroad and to reward employers that offer higher pay.
In practice, that means the old volume strategy has become harder to sustain. Filing widely for entry-level candidates now carries more cost and less certainty, while a smaller set of higher-wage petitions stands a better chance of moving forward.
The administration has presented the shift as a response to abuse in the previous system. Tragesser’s December statement made that argument directly, saying the old random process let employers seek foreign workers at lower wages than they would pay American workers.
Business needs have changed at the same time. The same sector that once relied heavily on H-1B filings has spent the past two years cutting jobs, trimming costs and narrowing headcount plans, leaving fewer openings for sponsored workers even before the new rules took hold.
That overlap matters for interpreting the numbers. A 26.9% decline in eligible registrations reflects both policy pressure and reduced demand from employers that no longer hire at earlier levels.
For workers already in the United States, the exemption from the $100,000 supplemental fee offers some protection. Yet the protection is narrow. If employers cut staff and hiring slows, current H-1B holders may still struggle to change jobs quickly enough to remain in status.
For workers abroad, the hurdle is steeper. A new petition now must absorb the added fee and compete in a system that pushes lower-paid roles to the back of the line.
The effect is not uniform across the industry. Companies filling advanced technical or specialized roles may still file aggressively for a small number of candidates, while broader campus-style recruitment and large early-career cohorts appear less suited to the new H-1B filing environment.
As the FY 2027 cap closes, the reshaped program points to fewer filings, higher salary thresholds and a narrower path for entry-level applicants. For many tech employers, the message from this year’s cap season is plain: the era of mass H-1B filings has given way to a far more selective system.
