The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing an overhaul of the H-1B visa system to favor more highly skilled and highly paid foreign workers, according to docket submitted Tuesday.
The change would replace a lottery system with a “numerical cap” that allows employers to prioritize higher-skilled workers that make higher wages. Workers would be separated into four different categories, with Level IV workers being entered into the selection pool four times and Level I workers being entered once.
The policy change would, according to DHS, incentivize employers to provide “higher wages or higher skilled positions to H-1B workers.” The current system, the docket says, allows employers to prioritize lower-skilled, lower-wage workers.
The docket will be published to the Federal Regi