In a sweeping overhaul of the H-1B visa programme, the US department of homeland security (DHS) has proposed a weighted lottery system that would give higher chances of selection to foreign workers in higher salary brackets, while also imposing a steep US$100,000 one-time fee on new visa petitions. According to a proposed rule published in the federal register , US citizenship and immigration services (USCIS) would abandon the current random lottery format for cap-subject H-1B petitions in favour of a tiered weighting mechanism based on wage levels. Under the plan, applicants in the highest wage tier — those earning US$162,528 or more annually — would receive four entries into the lottery pool, while those in the lowest wage tier would receive just one. DHS says the c

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