https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/20/h_1b_job_lottery/
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) intend to reevaluate how H-1B visas are issued, according to a regulatory filing.
The notice, filed on Thursday with the US Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), seeks the statutory review of a proposed rule titled "Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions."
Once the review is complete, which could be a matter of days or weeks, the text of the rule is expected to be published in the US Federal Register.
Based on the rule title, it appears the government intends to change the system for allocating H-1B visas the current lottery to some system that will favor applicants who meet specified criteria, possibly related to skills.
Change cannot come soon enough for Kevin Lynn, executive director of Institute for Sound Public Policy, a non-profit that advocates for US workers and the reform of guest worker programs.
Lynn in a blog post on Thursday argued that schemes like H-1B, the accompanying H-4 EAD spousal visas, and OPT, have betrayed America's computer science graduates.
"In 2023, American colleges graduated 134,153 citizens or green card holders with bachelor's or master's degrees in computer science," Lynn wrote.
"That same year, our federal government handed out work permits to at least 110,098 foreign workers in computer occupations through just three major guest worker programs. That's equal to 82 percent of our graduating class who are guaranteed jobs even before any Americans walk across the stage for their diploma."
