DHS plans to publish a new final rule, codifying changes to the H-1B selection process. Under the rule, for this year’s and future H-1B lotteries, registrations for positions with higher Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) wage levels will be given greater weight than those with lower wage level positions. Specifically, the rule states:
“Registrations for unique beneficiaries or petitions will be assigned to the relevant OEWS wage level and entered into the selection pool as follows: registrations for unique beneficiaries or petitions assigned wage level IV will be entered into the selection pool four times, those assigned wage level III will 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 will be entered into the selection pool one time.”
The rule also notes:
“Each unique beneficiary will 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.”
DHS estimates that this will greatly increase the chances of the selection of registrations with Level III and Level IV wages, while greatly reducing the chances of selection for registrations with Level I wages. Registrations with Level II wages will have only a slightly increased chance of selection, according to DHS’ analysis. For more specific details from this analysis, see our prior post about this rule.
Once published, the rule will take effect in 60 days, and therefore will affect this year’s and future H-1B lotteries.