DHS Issues Proposed Rule on Weighted Selection for Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions

On September 24, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a proposed rule to implement a “weighted selection” process for cap-subject H-1B petitions that “would 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.”

Under the proposed process, DHS said, registrations for unique beneficiaries or petitions would be assigned to the relevant Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics wage level and entered into the selection pool as follows:

[R]egistrations for unique beneficiaries or petitions assigned wage level IV would be entered into the selection pool four times, those assigned wage level III would be entered into the selection pool three times, those assigned wage level II would be entered into the selection pool two times, and those assigned wage level I would be entered into the selection pool one time. Each unique beneficiary would only be counted once toward the numerical allocation projections, regardless of how many registrations were submitted for that beneficiary or how many times the beneficiary is entered in the selection pool.

Comments on the proposed rule must be submitted by October 24, 2025, using the instructions in the notice. Comments on the associated information collections must be submitted by November 24, 2025.

This is posting is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal advice. If you require further assistance or advice relating to the above, please contact our Partner, Catherine Betancourt at catherine@flynnhodkinson.com.