DHS Withdraws H-1B Selection Final Rule

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has officially withdrawn a rule that would have changed the way the annual H-1B lottery is conducted by giving priority to registrations with the highest wage level.  It will continue with the current method of randomly selecting the H-1B registrations in the annual lottery. 

The rule was issued on January 8, 2021, and proposed a ranking system of the registrations for the annual H-1B lottery based on wage level offered. The new system was designed to prioritize selection of the ones with the highest of four wage levels. DHS planned to implement the new ranking system in time for the March 2021 H-1B lottery. 

On February 8, 2021, DHS issued a final rule delaying the effective date of the H-1B Selection Final Rule to December 31, 2021, and after months of legal challenge, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California vacated the rule. In accordance with the court’s ruling, DHS withdrew the rule on December 21, 2021. 

By way of background, there is an annual limit to the number of H-1B visas available.  There are approximately 65,000 H-1B visas available and an additional 20,000 H-1B visas available for individuals with a U.S. master’s degree (or higher).  Because demand for the H-1B visa usually surpasses the annual limit, USCIS opens a registration period in March for about three weeks.  If at the end of the three-week window it gets more registrations than the number of H-1B visas available, it runs a random lottery the last week of March.  It first selects the 65,000 H-1B visas.  Then, it pulls all the US master’s degree holders from the pool of registrations that were not selected and runs a second lottery for the 20,000 H-1B visas.  Employers whose registrations have been selected are notified by April 1. 

We are delighted with this development as the emphasis on the highest salary for selection shuts out new graduates, entry level professionals, medical residents, and healthcare workers

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season!