The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed changes to the process in which H-1B visa petitions are chosen. This proposal is a response to President Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” strategy.

The two changes that were proposed are:

1. As of now, there is a general cap of 65,000 H-1B visas that are granted annually, with another 20,000 visa slots for applicants with advanced degrees from higher education institutions in the US. In recent years there is a higher demand for visas then the offered cap which triggers a lottery system.

The new proposal will change the selection process. All candidates, including candidates with advanced degrees, will be included in the initial lottery of 65,000 visas. After that, the candidates with advanced degrees who are not selected will enter the lottery of the 20,000 that is only for advanced degree holders. This change will result in more candidates with advanced degrees being selected.

2. The second suggestion is to add a pre-registration process to the H-1B lottery. They propose to make the registration process easier and more efficient by moving it from paper to an online process.

The process will be as following:

The employers will register their candidates online for free. USCIS will then select the numerical quota of 85,000 new H-1Bs. The employers whose candidates were selected will have at least 60 days to prepare and file the full H-1B petition and filing fees.

The new proposal will create a situation where employers will have to submit full petitions only if their candidate’s registration was selected. The situation currently is that all employers need to go through the entire registration process even if their candidates are not selected.