US signals intention to rethinkjob H-1B lottery
: Foreign worker program represents betrayal of US computer science students, advocacy group argues
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.
The H-1B visa program, which reached its Fiscal 2026 cap on Friday, allows skilled guest workers to come work in the US. As of 2019, there were about 600,000 H-1B workers in the US, according to USCIS [PDF].
The foreign worker program is beloved by technology companies, ostensibly to hire talent not readily available from American workers. But H-1B – along with the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program – has long been criticized for making it easier to undercut US worker wages, limiting labor rights for immigrants, and for persistent abuseof the rules by outsourcing companies.
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."
US government policies, he argues, favor foreign workers over American students.
Recent college graduates are facing a tougher job market than other demographic categories, with a Q1 2025 unemployment rate of 5.8 percent compared to 4.0 percent for workers on average, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. For recent graduates in computer science, the US unemployment rate was 6.1 percent and 7.5 percent for computer engineering as of February 2025.
A survey by recruiting firm ZipRecruiter published earlier this year found that 25.8 percent of those who majored in computer science, information technology, or data science wish they had chosen to focus on a different subject.
Lynn blames programs like H-1B for taking jobs away from US computer science students.
"The H-1B visa program has exploded from 363,503 workers in 2011 to 685,117 in 2022 – an 81 percent increase," he wrote. "Between 60 percent and 70 percent of these visas go to workers in computer occupations, directly taking entry-level positions from American graduates."
Ron Hira, associate professor of political science at Howard University and a research associate with the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which advocates for progressive labor policy, told The Register that the concerns Lynn has raised are valid, though a narrow framing of a complex issue.
"There's no doubt that the H-1B and OPT work program – and the OPT is not supposed to be a work program, but it really is – have really nothing to do with merit or competence or any kind of labor shortages," Hira said.
"So those are fundamental flaws in the program. And then, on top of that, both of those programs allow employers to pay a lot less than market wages. So there's no doubt that those programs distort the US labor market in very negative ways for workers who are in that market."
