5. Department of Homeland Security · Notable
Transform H-1B into an elite, highest-wage-only program
Printed page 145 5. Department of Homeland Security
“The oft-abused H-1B program should be transformed into an elite program through which employers are vying to bring in only the top foreign workers at the highest wages so as not to depress American opportunities.”
What has happened
- Partially done
Proclamation 11069 extended the 2025 proclamation for twelve more months, from 2026-09-21 to 2027-09-21, keeping the $100,000 payment and the same national-interest exception unchanged, and reaching H-1B specialty-occupation workers only. The President gives the reason in the Quote's own terms: the payment and the weighted selection rule "have had the combined effect of deterring low-wage and low-skilled recruitment while increasing access for high-skilled and high-wage workers", and the order is to "ensure that employers recruit only the most highly-skilled and essential alien workers". The extension holds the first event's move rather than adding to it, so the rung stays `partial`: the price still sits on entry and not on the program's structure, and it lapses again unless it is renewed. A further renewal recommendation is due 30 days after the next H-1B lottery.
- Partially done
DHS proposed to write the price into the petition itself: a $103,265 fee, "payable at the time of filing, for all H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption", on top of every other fee (RIN 1615-AD20, docket USCIS-2026-0298, 91 FR 54817). The proclamation of 2025-09-19 attached a $100,000 payment to entry; this would make a charge of the same size a condition of filing any cap petition, which is the same pressure on the program's shape — only employers who value a worker at that price will file. DHS gives revenue as the reason, "a dedicated revenue mechanism to help recover a portion of the federal government's costs of administering the lawful immigration system", not selectivity, and a flat fee prices the program without doing what the Quote asks outright, which is to admit only the top workers at the highest wages. The proposal's own regulatory flexibility analysis goes only as far as saying the fee "could also have the indirect benefit of better protecting the wages of similarly situated and highly skilled U.S. workers". Cap-exempt petitions are not charged. A proposal, with comments due 2026-09-24, so the rung does not move. The correction published on 2026-09-10 (C1-2026-17324, 91 FR 57516) replaces one receipts table (Table 13) and changes nothing else.
- Partially done
DHS finalized a weighted selection process that "will generally favor the allocation of H-1B visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens, while maintaining the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels", effective for the FY2027 registration season. The cap lottery is no longer wage-blind. It is `partial` and not `done` on the department's own words: the rule deliberately keeps every wage level in play, so the H-1B has not become the top-workers-only program the Quote asks for.
- Partially done
The President restricted the entry of H-1B workers except where a $100,000 payment accompanies the petition, pricing the program towards employers willing to pay for the workers they most want. That is a substantial move towards the elite, high-wage program the Quote describes, imposed on entry rather than on the program's structure.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Two instruments in one autumn: a proclamation pricing H-1B entry and a rule reweighting the cap selection towards wages.
- Found 2026-09-10 through a correction. The 2026-08-25 fee proposal was published two days before this item was last researched and was not recorded; we found it only because its correction (C1-2026-17324) was published as a new document, and even then it was not first matched to this item. The proposal is also one more piece of the USCIS fee rule #339 asks for, and is recorded there as a note.
Two presidential documents of 2026-09-18 (found 2026-09-24; read 2026-09-23). Both were published on 2026-09-23 without an abstract, so they were held as open leads until both were read at govinfo.gov (2026-19554 and 2026-19555).
- Proclamation 11069, Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers (91 FR 60497, FR 2026-19554). An extension, not a lapse. It continues Proclamation 10973’s restriction for twelve months from 2026-09-21, with the $100,000 payment, the compliance steps and the Secretary’s national-interest exception word for word, and it reaches H-1B only. It reports that the payment has been made on over 700 petitions and that the largest IT staffing and outsourcing firms cut their combined registrations from 24,946 to 2,055. Recorded as the 2026-09-18 event. That review’s one live question of a reversal, across all asks, closes with no downward move.
- Executive Order 14431, Enhancing Program Integrity and Interagency Coordination in the Administration of the H-1B Nonimmigrant Visa Program (91 FR 60501, FR 2026-19555). Enforcement, not the program’s shape. It has State, Labor and DHS consult Commerce, Education and SBA on compliance, directs them to “take into account” whether a sponsor made layoffs in the past year or plans them, and has Wage and Hour review past labor condition applications under INA 212(n)(2)(G). There is nothing on wage floors, selection or prevailing-wage levels, and the layoff factor applies to all sponsors without regard to wage. It is recorded on #334 as an integrity measure. No event here.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- H-1B program
- ID
- 333