DHS Overhauls H-1B Lottery: Higher Pay Now Means Better Odds Starting FY2027

The H-1B lottery just got a major overhaul — and your salary is now your ticket

The Department of Homeland Security published a final rule on December 29, 2025 that fundamentally changes how USCIS selects H-1B registrations. Instead of a purely random lottery, USCIS will now use a weighted selection system that gives candidates with higher salaries — relative to their occupation and location — significantly better odds of being picked. The rule takes effect February 27, 2026, just in time for the FY2027 cap season registration window.

How the new weighting system works

The core mechanic is straightforward: each registration is assigned a weight based on the OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage level the offered salary meets or exceeds for that specific job title and geographic area. That weight determines how many times your registration enters the selection pool:

• Wage Level IV (highest): enters the pool 4 times
• Wage Level III: enters the pool 3 times
• Wage Level II: enters the pool 2 times
• Wage Level I (entry-level): enters the pool 1 time

Importantly, each unique beneficiary (the individual worker) is still only counted once toward the numerical cap — the weighting only affects selection odds, not how the cap is calculated. The existing beneficiary-centric framework (where multiple registrations from different employers for the same person don't multiply their cap count) remains intact.

Why is DHS making this change?

DHS argues the pure random lottery doesn't align with Congress's original intent for the H-1B program: to fill positions requiring highly skilled workers. Because demand for H-1B visas has far exceeded the 65,000 (plus 20,000 master's cap) annual supply for over a decade, USCIS has been selecting lower-wage, entry-level positions at the same rate as highly specialized senior roles. This rule attempts to fix that.

This isn't DHS's first attempt at wage-based selection. A 2021 rule would have ranked registrations by wage and effectively excluded Level I and most Level II workers entirely. That rule was vacated by a federal court and later withdrawn. This new approach uses weighting instead of strict ranking, preserving at least some opportunity for every wage level to be selected — a deliberate compromise.

What this means in practice

If you're a recent graduate or entry-level worker being sponsored at a Level I or II salary, your odds of selection drop significantly compared to the current random system. An employer offering a Level IV salary gets four times the selection chances of one offering Level I for the same occupation. Over time, this will likely push employers to offer higher starting salaries for H-1B roles — or face lower selection odds for their candidates.

For employers, this creates both pressure and strategy. Companies that can afford to pay top-of-market salaries gain a structural lottery advantage. Small businesses, nonprofits, startups, and sectors like healthcare and academia — where wages may be constrained — could find the lottery increasingly stacked against them.