USCIS Tightens H-1B Selection Rules, Affecting New York Employers Filing Form I-129

(NEW YORK) — U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services put a new set of immigration and filing rules into effect on April 1, 2026, reshaping how employers in New York hire foreign workers and how immigrants keep work authorization and pursue benefits.

The changes tie H-1B selection more closely to wages, require a new edition of Form I-129, tighten vetting for some applicants, and raise compliance costs for some petitions. In New York, they arrive alongside state and city labor rules that also took effect or are about to take effect.

USCIS announced on March 31, 2026 that it had completed the FY 2027 H-1B registration selection. In the agency’s statement, USCIS said, “Starting April 1, 2026, USCIS will exclusively accept the 02/27/26 edition of Form I-129. This update reflects the Department’s commitment to a weighted selection process that prioritizes higher-skilled and higher-paid foreign nationals to better protect the wages and job opportunities of American workers.”

That move marks a broader shift in federal immigration policy. As of April 1, 2026, USCIS policy changes place heavier emphasis on wage-based H-1B selection, heightened security screening and more frequent review of employment authorization.

For employers, the filing change is immediate. All employment-based petitions must now use the 02/27/26 edition of Form I-129, and the revised form requires explicit data on wage levels, listed as Level I-IV, along with detailed educational requirements to fit the weighted lottery system.

For New York businesses, that federal change intersects with higher local labor costs. New York’s minimum wage rose on January 1, 2026 to $17.00/hour in NYC, Long Island, and Westchester, and to $16.00 elsewhere in the state.

Those wage floors matter more under the new H-1B selection system because employers in New York City now face stronger pressure to offer higher pay if they want petitions to remain competitive. The shift from a random H-1B lottery to a wage-weighted model represents what the source described as a structural change in business immigration.

The policy could weigh most heavily on entry-level hiring. The wage-weighted model may price out entry-level international talent, particularly at New York’s tech and financial startups, which often depend on younger workers and tighter payroll budgets.

USCIS also moved on asylum processing. In a March 30, 2026 memorandum on the partial removal of an asylum pause, the agency said, “Effective immediately, USCIS will resume adjudicating affirmative asylum applications for individuals from non-high-risk countries who clear enhanced vetting protocols, including social media and consular database cross-checks.”

That step followed what the agency described as a top-to-bottom security review that began in late 2025. The review fed into a broader enforcement posture that USCIS had already outlined months earlier.

In an end-of-year review dated December 22, 2025, USCIS leadership said, “The agency has advanced immigration policies that put the national interest first, ensuring that aliens no longer receive automatic extensions of their employment authorization without further screening and vetting.”

One practical result is a shorter validity period for many work permits. Under updated policy guidance, the maximum validity period for Employment Authorization Documents dropped from five years to 18 months for most categories, including asylum and TPS.

That means more frequent renewals and more frequent screening. For immigrants in New York who rely on those documents to work legally, the shorter cycle can affect job continuity, employer planning and access to services.

Another cost increase arrived earlier. Under a Presidential Proclamation effective September 21, 2025, certain new H-1B petitions are subject to a $100,000 supplemental fee unless a National Interest Exception is granted.

The added fee applies primarily to petitions that require consular notification rather than a simple change of status. For employers already facing higher wages and stricter filing demands, that fee raises the price of bringing in some foreign workers.

Seasonal employers face separate federal pressure. USCIS announced on March 10, 2026 that the statutory cap for the second half of FY 2026 for H-2B visas had been reached, though supplemental visas for returning workers were made available through a temporary final rule.

In New York, that matters for businesses in sectors that depend on short-term labor. It also lands as city and state labor protections expand for workers in industries with large immigrant populations.

New York City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act expanded on February 22, 2026. Employers in the city must now provide an additional 32 hours of unpaid leave for workers, broadening leave entitlements in service sectors that employ many immigrants.

Another hiring rule arrives later this month. Starting April 18, 2026, New York State will bar most employers from using consumer credit history in hiring or compensation decisions, aligning the state more closely with existing restrictions in New York City.

That change removes one barrier for newer immigrants who have limited U.S. credit history. At the same time, it adds another compliance obligation for employers already adjusting to federal filing and wage rules.

A separate state law took effect at the end of last year. The “Trapped at Work” Act, effective December 23, 2025, prohibits employers from requiring workers to repay training costs through promissory notes.

The law addresses a practice that had been used against some H-1B and H-2B workers. Its timing puts it alongside the federal changes in vetting, work authorization and visa selection, creating a new compliance environment for companies that rely on immigrant labor.

The federal security review has also split immigration processing by country. The “high-risk country” pause under Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 remains in place for nationals of 19 designated countries, even after the partial lift for other nations on March 30, 2026.

That leaves a bifurcated system in place. Applicants from some regions can move forward if they pass enhanced vetting, while others continue to face freezes on benefits and delays in work authorization.

For immigrant service providers in New York, that mix of resumed adjudications and continuing restrictions complicates casework. Some clients may re-enter the system, while others remain stuck under the high-risk country rules.

For employers, the combined effect is more layered. They now must account for a weighted H-1B process, the mandatory new Form I-129, possible exposure to the $100,000 supplemental fee, shorter EAD validity periods for some workers and a tighter labor-law framework in New York.

USCIS laid out the latest H-1B changes in its FY 2027 H-1B cap update, issued March 31, 2026. The agency’s policy guidance on work permits appears in its Policy Manual, which reflects revisions from Dec 2025 and Feb 2026.

New York City has directed residents to its immigration policy updates page, posted Feb 26, 2026. State labor officials have separately published 2026 wage guidance on the minimum wage compliance page.

Taken together, the measures point in one direction. USCIS policy changes now put more weight on wage levels and more emphasis on repeated screening, while New York’s own rules raise wage floors and expand worker protections.

That combination may leave larger employers better positioned to absorb new costs. Smaller firms, especially those that recruit early-career international workers, face sharper decisions about whether to file, what wages to offer and how much compliance they can handle.

For immigrants, the same set of rules can open one door and close another. Some asylum applicants from non-high-risk countries can move forward again, but many workers must renew employment authorization more often, and nationals of 19 designated countries remain caught in a separate queue.

The immediate trigger for many employers is procedural but consequential: USCIS will now accept only one version of the filing form at the center of many employment-based petitions. As the agency put it on March 31, “Starting April 1, 2026, USCIS will exclusively accept the 02/27/26 edition of Form I-129.”