The U.S. is about to make a big change to its H-1B visa program, as the Trump administration takes another step toward eliminating the ³lottery system´ that has been in place for so long and introducing a new selection system based on salaries.

So far, H-1B visas that enable U.S. corporations to recruit highly-skilled foreign workers have been distributed via a lottery run by computer. However, the administration has proposed sweeping reforms aimed at tightening the programme and prioritising highly paid, specialised workers. The proposals, submitted by the US Department of Homeland Security, are currently under final review.

According to reports, the government is considering scrapping the random lottery mechanism and introducing a weighted selection system based on salary levels. Under the new model, visa applications offering higher wages would be given priority, ensuring that top-earning skilled professionals receive H-1B visas first, followed by others in descending order of pay.

The Immigration firm Fragomen foresees that the Office of Management and Budget is scrutinizing the proposal which is in line with the administration’s declared aim of permitting only the highly skilled foreign workers into the US labour force. The transition signals a larger trend wherein visa approvals will be linked to the remuneration thus, making it easier for those applicants who are considered to contribute more hitherto to the economy to get the visa approval.

On the other hand, the new measure is coupled with other tightening measures introduced by the Trump administration, such as the hasty halting of certain H-1B visa interviews and the proposal for a significant increase in the operating costs of foreign workers. Trump had previously suggested an annual charge of $100,000 for the companies to issue new H-1B visas although many companies kept their overseas recruitment despite the anticipated charges.

In case it is put into action, the pay-based system would be one of the major changes in the H-1B program in the past decades, it is slated to affect the recruitment strategies of US firms and the thousands of foreign professionals’ chances to seek employment in the United States in a major manner.