Since the Trump administration took office, they have made efforts to bring in some of the changes that they could not implement in the first term. One such regulation is to modify the H1B Lottery selection process.
In this article, we will shed light on the H1B Lottery selection process change regulation that is put forward by the Trump Administration, including its current status, the official update, what we know so far, what we can expect going forward, and what kind of impact it can have.
Background: H1B Lottery Selection with Wage Levels Rule
Below is a brief background for your context on why the Trump administration is trying to change the H1B lottery selection process, which is part of the H1B Registration Process:
- Back in November 2020, during the first term of the Trump administration, a proposed regulation was published by them to change the H1B Lottery selection process to be based on Wage Levels. Read more at H1B Lottery Selection based on Wage Levels
- After the public comments, DHS published a final regulation of the same on Jan 7th, 2021, with an effective date of March 9th, 2021. Read more at DHS Final Rule – H1B Lottery to be based on Wage Levels
- After the Biden administration took office in 2021, they moved the effective date of the lottery selection process change rule to December 31, 2021. Finally, USCIS withdrew the same rule in December 2021 after losing a court battle.
Since the Trump administration was unable to implement the lottery selection process rule last time during their first term, they have put up a new regulation on similar lines to change the same. Let’s dive in.
H1B Lottery Process Change: Weighted Selection Regulation
As of now, the regulation text for the H1B lottery process change has not yet been published by the DHS. It was approved by OMB, and we are waiting for the official text to be published. As we do not have any official text of the regulation yet, we do not know what the new lottery process would look like; we can only guess, based on the title, that it may be based on wage levels. You can read more in the next section on what we can expect based on the title and history.
Brief Summary of the Regulation with Latest Status:
- Name of the Regulation: “Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions“
- Latest Status of the Regulation: Concluded OMB Review, Approved.
- Next Step: Publication of the proposed rule in the Federal Register
- Approved by OMB Office on Date: August 8th, 2025.
Latest Updates on the H1B Lottery Process Change Regulation:
Below are the latest updates arranged by the latest date on the H1B Lottery process change regulation the Trump Administration is currently pursuing:
August 8th, 2025
The Office of Management and Budget(OMB) concluded the regulatory review of the regulation “Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions“.
Their decision on conclusion is “Consistent with Change“. What it means is that the OMB approves it and will go forward with the next steps on publishing the regulation soon.
We do not have access to the actual regulation text on the change in the H1B Lottery Process that will be a weighted selection.
Next Steps:
- We can expect to see the regulation text published soon in the Federal Register.
- DHS will seek public feedback on the regulation with a comment period ranging from 30 days to 60 days.
- After reviewing the comments, they may change the regulatory text as needed and make it a final rule.
- You may read the article 9 Steps in the Federal Rulemaking Process for more info on the process.
Below is the screenshot of the actual change in the status of the regulation and the Concluded Action updated on the Federal Register:
Below is the screenshot of the status of the EO 12866 meetings (basically, meetings to check if federal regulations are consistent with the President’s policies) for the regulation that shows they are completed. You can check more at EO 12866 meetings
July 17th, 2025
DHS/ USCIS has submitted a regulation to the Office of Management and Budget(OMB) that reads “Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions” on July 17th, 2025.
The regulation is under review by the OMB. The reason for the OMB review is that the regulation/rule is categorized as “Economically Significant”, which means that the regulation has an annual effect of $100 million or more on the economy.
What does the regulation say? What are the changes to the lottery selection?
As of today, there is no official text released by DHS/ USCIS or the OMB. It is standard process to get OMB approval before the regulation text is released to the public.
If you hear anyone saying the H1B lottery selection process is changing in a certain way, it is essentially speculation on their part. No one has the actual text. Therefore, do not be misled.
What do we know so far?
Below are the only things we all know so far from the official update on the Reginfo.gov website.
- Name of the Regulation: “Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions“
- State of the Regulation: Proposed Rule.
- Received Date by OMB Office: July 17th, 2025
- Classified as Economically Significant (regulation has an annual effect of $100 million or more on the economy)
- There is no legal deadline for this.
Below is the screenshot of the actual regulation info as it appears on Reginfo.gov
What can we expect as next steps?
There are a total of 9 steps in the Federal Rulemaking Process. OMB Review is Step 4. Next steps are listed below:
- Step 5 – Publication of the Proposed Rule – We will get to see the actual text of the regulation and what they plan to change for the H1B Selection Process
- Step 6 – Public Comments: Public will get to give their comments on the regulation to make any suggestions or changes. This can be for 60 or 180 days.
- Step 7, 8 – Preparation of Final Rule, OMB Review: The final rule is prepared, DHS has to give responses to the comments by public and OMB reviews the final rule.
- Step 9: Final Rule is published and becomes effective
So, there is a long way to go for the rule to become effective.
How long does OMB Review Take? When can we see the rule text?
For the OMB Review, as per EO 12866, this could take anywhere from a few days to 90 days. So, there is no fixed timeline here. We need to wait for them to come back.
What can we expect: Wage Levels Based Lottery Selection?
What you read below is what we can expect and speculation, and not from official regulation text:
Purely based on the title that reads “Weighted Selection Process…”, we can expect to see a Wage Levels-based Lottery Selection Process. This is one of the only ways you can have a weighted selection-based approach. If you’re new to H1B Wage levels, read What is H1B Wage Levels, how it works?
Based on past official regulation by DHS on changing H1B lottery process based on wage levels, we can expect the lottery process to be as below:
- Ranking: USCIS will rank the submitted H1B Registrations based on the Wage Levels in descending order from Wage Level IV, followed by Level III, Level II and Level I.
- Selection by Highest: They will first select the H1B Registrations in Wage Level IV, if the H1B cap is not met with that, they will then choose in Wage Level III registrations, and so on until they meet the H1B Cap.
- Random Lottery: If more registrations are available in a Wage Level, then they will use random selection in that wage level pool to pick the remaining registrations.
- Example – How it works: Let’s say DHS got 60K for Wage Level IV and III, they would have selected Level IV and Level III to meet about 60K slots out of 85K cap. Now, they are left with 25K slots open to meet the cap. Now, imagine they have about 100K registrations with Level II wage in the pool, then DHS would run lottery to pick the 25K slots from the 100K Level II wage registrations. They will ignore the Level I registrations as they are not required to be considered as pe the change.
What would be your ideas for the H1B lottery selection process change?
What do you think of the H1B Regulation on changing the H1B Lottery Process? Do you think it will work? Share your thoughts in the comments section below:
Indians will come up with new ways to commit fraud.
What if all employers prioritise to file only for level 4 engineer positions.
Then no use of using this new changes.
More fraud may happen than earlier 🤦🏻♂️
Sam,
It is not that simple. The wages are significantly higher. They have to back it up with employee having that skills and experience later.
What happens to the H1B renewals?
Mahi,
This may have an impact on the renewals as the applicant when renewing cannot go under the LCA amount. For now, it is only for lottery selection. For renewals, we need to see.
I think this is best thing to avoid fraud consultancy submissions. This rule should be finalized.
Chandandeep,
It is not that simple. There are some nuances that congress has not put this in the regulation when they passed it. So, it may face some legal challenges. Let’s see.