After the DHS receives and reviews the comments, it would then submit a final rule to the OMB before publishing the final rule with an effective date.

The proposed rule has not yet been published, so we do not know what it contains. However, based on proposed rules from the prior Trump Administration and other publicly available information, it seems likely that the rule will seek to eliminate the lottery process and award H-1B selections based on factors such as salary or prevailing wage data. The general expectation is that H-1B selection process would favor positions with higher wage levels.

During President Trump’s first term, his administration attempted to change the H-1B rule, but the proposed rule was vacated by the courts and then withdrawn by the Biden Administration. We expect to see court challenges to the current proposed rule once it is published.

We will continue to update this post as we learn more.