New US bill seeks to shut H-1B door for three years

A Republican bill introduced in the US House would freeze new H-1B visas for three years, cut the annual cap to 25,000 and impose a $200,000 minimum salary threshold, marking one of the sharpest legislative attacks yet on the skilled-worker visa route used heavily by Indian professionals.

Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona introduced the ‘End H-1B Visa Abuse Act of 2026’ on 22 April, with seven Republican lawmakers signing on as original co-sponsors.

The proposal would reduce the annual H-1B cap from 65,000 to 25,000, eliminate existing exemptions, replace the lottery with a wage-based selection system, require employers to certify that they cannot find a qualified American worker, and set a minimum wage of $200,000 a year for H-1B workers.

It would also bar H-1B workers from bringing dependents to the US, prohibit federal agencies from sponsoring or employing nonimmigrant workers, end Optional Practical Training for foreign students, and prevent H-1B holders from adjusting status to permanent residency.

“The federal government should work for hardworking citizens, not the profit margins of massive corporations,” Crane said in a statement announcing the bill. “We owe it to the American people to prevent the broken H-1B system from boxing them out of jobs they are qualified to perform.”

The bill faces uncertain prospects in Congress, but its introduction adds to a broader political and regulatory push in Washington to make the H-1B program more expensive, more restrictive and more closely tied to wage levels.

Even if the measure does not pass in its current form, it signals how far the debate over skilled-worker immigration has shifted.

India at the Center

No country is more exposed to the H-1B debate than India. USCIS data for fiscal year 2024 showed that 71% of approved H-1B petitions were for beneficiaries born in India, with China a distant second.

That dominance makes the Crane bill especially significant for Indian students, engineers and technology workers.

The H-1B has long formed part of a wider migration pathway in which foreign students enter the US on F-1 visas, work after graduation through Optional Practical Training (OPT), seek H-1B sponsorship from employers, and then wait for employment-based permanent residency.

The bill targets several parts of that chain at once. Ending OPT would weaken the bridge between US education and American employment. Blocking adjustment to permanent residency would make the H-1B a temporary work route with fewer prospects for long-term settlement.

Barring dependents would make the visa far less practical for mid-career professionals with families.

For Indian professionals, the measure would reshape the assumptions behind a career route that has linked engineering talent, US graduate schools and American technology companies for more than three decades.

Crackdown underway

The Crane bill comes after a series of Trump administration steps aimed at tightening the H-1B system.

On 19 September 2025, US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation requiring a $100,000 payment for certain new H-1B petitions involving workers outside the US. The proclamation said the restriction would apply for 12 months from 21 September 2025, subject to exceptions determined by the Department of Homeland Security.

The White House later clarified that the payment does not apply to previously issued H-1B visas or petitions submitted before the effective date, does not change fees for renewals, and does not prevent current H-1B visa holders from traveling in and out of the US.

The administration has also moved to change how H-1B registrations are selected. A final rule published by the Department of Homeland Security replaces the purely random lottery with a wage-weighted process designed to favor higher-paid and higher-skilled workers.

DHS said the rule is intended to reduce use of the program for lower-paid positions while preserving access at all wage levels.

Separately, the Department of Labor launched Project Firewall on 19 September 2025, an enforcement initiative focused on suspected H-1B misuse.

The department said it would prioritize investigations involving displacement of US workers, inadequate recruitment of American workers or other abuses, with penalties potentially including back wages, civil money penalties and debarment from the program.

The number of eligible H-1B registrations had already fallen sharply before the September 2025 proclamation.

USCIS said eligible registrations for FY2026 declined to 343,981 from 470,342 in FY2025, a 26.9% reduction. To be sure, the FY2026 registration cycle preceded the proclamation.

Changing Employer Profile

The politics of the H-1B program has long been shaped by criticism of Indian IT services companies, which were accused by opponents of using the visa to place lower-cost foreign workers at US client sites.

But recent data show the employer profile has changed. A National Foundation for American Policy analysis of USCIS data found that only three Indian-based companies were among the top 25 employers for approved H-1B petitions for initial employment in FY2025. The top seven Indian-based companies had 4,573 such approvals, down 70% from FY2015 and 37% fewer than in FY2024.

US technology firms dominate new H-1B approvals. Amazon had the most H-1B petitions approved for initial employment in FY2025, with 4,644, followed by Meta Platforms with 1,555, Microsoft with 1,394 and Google with 1,050, according to the NFAP analysis.

That shift complicates the politics of reform. The outsourcing critique remains powerful, but the latest employer data show the program is now deeply tied to large US technology companies, AI hiring and high-skilled labor demand across sectors.

Battle lines

Supporters of the H-1B program argue that it gives US companies access to specialized skills that are difficult to find domestically, particularly in technology, engineering and research roles. They also warn that sharp restrictions could push jobs, startups and research teams to rival hubs in Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.

Critics said the program has been used to suppress wages, weaken bargaining power and create a workforce dependent on employer sponsorship. Crane’s bill argues that the program should be paused before being rebuilt around higher wages, stricter employer obligations and narrower access.

Elon Musk has become one of the most visible defenders of the H-1B program within Trump’s political orbit, arguing that the US still needs access to foreign engineering talent even as he has called for reforms to curb misuse.

Reuters reported during a late-2024 backlash over the visa that Trump sided with Musk, saying he had “always been in favor” of H-1B visas. Musk has also suggested raising the minimum salary significantly and making it more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically.

That position overlaps with the administration’s wage-focused approach, but not with Crane’s bill, which would freeze new H-1B visas for three years and sharply narrow the program when it resumes.

The divide shows the tension inside Trump’s coalition between technology executives who see skilled immigration as essential to US competitiveness and restrictionist Republicans who cast it as a corporate subsidy.

The proposal also reflects a broader Republican turn against employment-based immigration systems that are seen as benefiting corporations at the expense of US workers. The bill’s co-sponsors include Brian Babin, Brandon Gill, Paul Gosar, Wesley Hunt, Tom McClintock, Keith Self and Andy Ogles.

The technology industry, meanwhile, continues to argue that access to global talent is essential to US competitiveness.

What Happens Next

The Crane bill is unlikely to become law quickly in its current form. It would need to move through the House, survive committee scrutiny, pass the chamber and then clear a Senate where major immigration measures face high procedural hurdles. But the bill does not need to pass unchanged to matter.

Its immediate effect is political and sets a harder negotiating position for H-1B reform and gives restrictionist lawmakers a clear legislative marker: a three-year freeze, a sharply lower cap, a $200,000 wage floor, the end of OPT and a block on the H-1B-to-green-card pathway.

For Indian workers and students, the H-1B route has become more expensive, more uncertain and more politically exposed. The latest bill adds the possibility that future access could be narrowed not only through fees and lottery rules, but through legislation that seeks to reset the program altogether.