H-1B overhaul Bill: Fewer visas, $200K salary rule, no dependents allowed
A group of Republican lawmakers in the United States has introduced a bill seeking a major overhaul of the H-1B visa programme, including a three-year pause and stricter eligibility rules. The proposal, called the End H-1B Visa Abuse Act of 2026, could significantly reshape how foreign professionals—especially Indians—work in the US.
Sharp reduction in visa numbers
Current cap: 65,000 visas annually
Proposed cap: 25,000 visas
This would cut new H-1B visas by more than 60%
End of the lottery system
The current random lottery would be replaced by a wage-based selection system
Higher-paying jobs would get priority.
Companies would need to:
Prove they cannot find a qualified American worker
Confirm they have not laid off US employees
Let lobbying from tech CEOs begin.
CEO:“This will crucify our bottom line & resulting stock options!”
But the argument to Congress will be; “We cannot now at a critical point & the nation’s strategic need; limit H1-Bs!”
Mary, a veteran Silicon Valley marketer who can’t find a job, considers herself a victim of an H-1B visa program run amok.
Her story, a U.S. native replaced by a foreign-born employee who is willing to work at a significantly lower wage, has become commonplace, particularly in the tech industry. Adding insult to injury, she says, her CEO, who hails from India, told her to train the man he selected to replace her before laying her off.
Despite stints at Google and Cisco and two years of job hunting, Mary can no longer compete in a job market saturated with foreign-born H-1B visa holders. "I had experience. I should have walked right into these corporate jobs, but I didn’t. Why? Because Silicon Valley is flooded with people who work for two-thirds of the price, or even half price," said Mary, who asked to be identified only by her first name.
All told, a remarkable two-thirds of the Valley’s nearly 400,000 tech jobs are now held by those born abroad , according to a 2025 report from the think tank Joint Venture Silicon Valley. Today, more tech workers were born in India (23%) and China (18%) combined than in the U.S. (34%).
While the H-1B program spans multiple industries, it’s overwhelmingly concentrated in tech. Last year, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Tata Consultancy, and Google were the biggest visa users, with Amazon alone recording more than 13,000 applications. These companies find the savings from hiring foreign workers hard to resist. The job of software developer, for instance, accounts for 38% of all H-1B visa workers, according to a 2026 paper by Borjas. And these foreign software developers earn about 30% less than their U.S. counterparts, the economist estimates.
Since many of these tech jobs pay six figures, the savings quickly add up.
Workers’ last task after layoff at Disney: train their foreign replacements