On Friday, December 19, 2025, the Trump administration’s proposed rule that would overhaul the H-1B visa lottery system, shifting from a randomized selection process to a wage-based weighted system, was submitted for review by the Office of Management and Budget.
The proposed changes, announced in a White House proclamation on September 23, 2025, would prioritize higher-skilled and higher-paid foreign workers. The proposed rule had a 30-day comment period, which ended on October 24, 2025.
Under the proposed rule, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would:
- Implement a weighted lottery system based on the wage level offered to the H-1B beneficiary.
- Assign more entries in the selection pool to higher wage levels:
- Level IV: 4 entries
- Level III: 3 entries
- Level II: 2 entries
- Level I: 1 entry
- Maintain the beneficiary-centric model, ensuring each foreign worker is only counted once, regardless of how many employers submit registrations.
This system would apply to both the regular cap (65,000 visas) and the advanced degree exemption (20,000 visas).
Next Steps
The OMB review is the final stage in the policy review process before its public release. The White House has announced several changes to the H-1B lottery process, with the aim of implementing them for this year’s lottery.
Expected Legal Challenges
We expect that this final rule will be met with litigation in an attempt to block it from going forward.
A similar regulation was finalized during the final months of President Trump’s first term in 2021, aiming to prioritize H-1B applicants based on wage levels. However, it was delayed by President Biden before its scheduled implementation in March 2021. The rule was later blocked by a federal judge in September 2021 and formally withdrawn by the Biden administration in December of that year.
The current proposal revives and revises that earlier effort, this time using a weighted selection model rather than a strict ranking system, which had previously raised concerns about excluding entry-level professionals.
Erickson Insights & Analysis
Erickson Immigration Group will continue monitoring developments and sharing updates as more news is available. Please contact your employer or EIG attorney if you have questions about anything we’re reporting above or if you have case-specific questions.