Wage Level Requirements to be Implemented in March 2026
On December 23rd, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it plans to amend regulations governing the H-1B lottery selection process with the goal to ‘prioritize the allocation of visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens to better protect the wages, working conditions, and job opportunities for American workers.’ The rule will replace the random lottery which has been in place since 2020 giving visa recipients a process that gives greater weight to those with higher skills.
USCIS considers the random lottery to have been exploited and abused in the past by U.S. employers who it perceives to be intent on hiring low-end workers at lower wages. This will affect entry level applicants for H-1B positions who are recent university graduates, those on practical training in the United States who would likely change status in the United States for purposes of employment with U.S. employers, and others.
Proposed Wage-Level Changes Would Reshape H-1B Lottery Selection
The weighted allocation of visas will default to the U.S. Department of Labor wage levels 1-4.
Key impacts will include:
- The H-1B wage levels for eligibility for the visa classification will favor the Level 4 – highest level wage and go down from there. Level 1 – entry level wage offers from U.S. companies would receive the least chance at lottery selection.
- The government maintains that the agency is focused on maintaining the integrity of the H-1B visa program, and this wage level adjustment and additional consideration in the lottery would attract the ‘best and the brightest’ to the exclusion of foreign students, individuals located abroad not being paid at the highest wage levels and others.
- This restriction is in addition to the $100,000.00 fee payment for each H-1 B applicant not located in the United States at the time of selection in the H-1B lottery and filing.
- On December 23rd, 2025, a Washington federal judge struck down the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s lawsuit challenging the $100,000.00 H-1B fee for applicants located outside the United States. While other lawsuits are pending in federal court, this is the first lawsuit confirming that the President does have the authority from Congress to implement this fee as it is used to regulate the entrance of foreign nationals to the United States under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to reduce administrative costs.
- The effect of imposing the $100,000 fee for each H1B petition filed for foreign nationals located outside the United States will likely reduce the number of offshore H1B filings in the upcoming H-1B lottery, thus increasing the likelihood of selection for those present in the United States at the time of selection and filing of H-1B petitions in the spring of 2026.
- Further, if the prevailing wage requirements are increased, more highly skilled and higher paid foreign workers will likely be selected in the visa lottery in March 2026. The reduction of those located abroad being excluded from the lottery will further result in the loss of highly qualified foreign talent immigrating to the United States. These individuals will likely pivot to seek alternate visa options for entry, including the E visa, L visa, O visa or other nonimmigrant options facilitating entry and employment in the United States. The message from the administration is clear that it favors highest paid individuals from around the globe to qualify for the H-1B visa category.
Additional Countries Added to the Administration’s Full and Partial Travel Ban
On December 16th, the President signed a proclamation expanding the existing travel ban, which originally included 12 countries. They can be found here: December 2025 U.S. Immigration Updates Affecting Employers and Foreign Nationals
The following additional countries have been added to the travel ban list –
- Burkina Faso
- Mali
- Niger
- South Sudan
- Syria
The administration has also fully restricted travel and entry for individuals with Palestinian-Authority issued travel documents. Other countries will also be subject to further partial travel restrictions including Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Diversity Visa Program Paused – December 2025
Following the Brown University shootings in December 2025, the Administration announced a pause in the Diversity Visa Program, as the shooter secured his permanent residence through participation in the program and hailed from Portugal – one of the countries eligible for participation in the Diversity-Lottery Program.
Resumption of the program is expected in 2026. The list of countries from which individuals may not apply for the Diversity Lottery Program, which usually takes place in October each year, may be found here: DV 2026 Plain Language Instructions and FAQs.pdf.
On December 19, 2025, USCIS announced in a Policy Memo that it was holding and reviewing pending USCIS adjustment of status applications filed by foreign nationals under the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. The reason for the hold was given as the administration plans to conduct a comprehensive review of all policies, procedures, screening and vetting processes for adjustment of status and associated waiver applications to fully assess the national security, criminal and related grounds of inadmissibility and deportation.
Further, USCIS stated that since all decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, the goal is to ‘safeguard the national security and public safety of the United States and its citizens.’ Affected applications include, but are not limited to, applications for adjustment of status, employment authorization, advance parole, waivers of grounds of excludability, applications to reapply for admission to the United States after deportation or removal and applications for action on an approved application or petition.
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