On September 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to change the H-1B lottery selection process to provide better selection odds to H-1B beneficiaries with higher salary offers. The NPRM provides a 30-day public response period.
The NPRM maintains the prior “beneficiary-centric” approach, meaning an H-1B beneficiary may only be selected once in the lottery irrespective of the number of employer registrants applying for that beneficiary. The core proposed change is to provide those with higher salary offers additional entries in the lottery. The mechanism for determining how many entries an H-1B beneficiary will receive is tied to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) OES salary survey, which utilizes four salary levels. The number of lottery entries will match the OES survey salary level that corresponds to the H-1B beneficiary’s salary for the proposed worksite: Level IV receives four entries, Level III receives three entries, Level II receives two entries, and Level I receives one entry. The weighted random selection process would apply to both the “regular cap” of 65,000 visas and the U.S. “advanced degree cap” of 20,000 visas.
The NPRM includes several prohibitions to avoid attempts by registrants to unfairly increase the odds of selection. For example, an employer is generally prohibited from filing an H-1B amendment (after approval of the H-1B lottery petition) that would provide for a lower salary than the offer included in the registration that served as the basis for determining the number of H-1B lottery entries.
The government estimates the change would lower the number of registrations selected with (the lowest) salaries corresponding to OES survey Level I and would increase selections with salaries corresponding to OES survey Levels II, III, and IV. While the proposal clearly increases the odds of selection for those receiving higher salary offers, and still maintains a pathway (albeit more limited) for those receiving lower salary offers, it would significantly impact recent university graduates who have not gained extensive employment experience warranting higher salaries.
