H-1B wage weighting and a contested $100,000 fee favor the best-paid applicants
Applications to the March 2026 H-1B lottery fell more than 38% from a year earlier, USCIS said, while the $100,000 fee stays held up in the courts. Business Insider concludes that employers with cash and workers with scarce skills come out ahead.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
Key figures: the overall median annual wage was $50,980 as of May 2025. The proposed H-1B fee for new applicants is $100,000 and is held up in the courts. Data scientists earned a median annual salary of $120,230 as of May 2025.
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall median annual wage | 50,980 dollars | As of May 2025 | 6 |
| Proposed H-1B fee, new applicants | 100,000 dollars | Held up in the courts | 22 |
| Data scientists, median annual salary | 120,230 dollars | As of May 2025 | 4 |
What happened
- On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance announced a crackdown on the green-card pathway for workers at some tech firms, including Microsoft and Adobe.
- Wage-weighted cap selection replaced the randomized H-1B lottery earlier this year and gives applicants in higher wage bands a greater chance of selection.
- Certified applications for data scientists rose nearly a quarter in 2026, the largest increase in any category with more than 5,000 applications.
- USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said the goal is for employment-based visas to "supplement, not supplant American workers."
Why it matters
- constraint Lower-paid occupations have the least room to absorb a fee of this size, so sponsoring them is hardest to justify wherever the fee applies.
- contradiction A practitioner sees no rule that favors any company, while the analysis sees an advantage for employers with cash; the dispute is over whether cost or rule text is the test.
- decision Sponsors filing in the next cycle must price a fee whose court status can change, and the wage band they file in alters their odds.
The size of the fee limits which hires are worth sponsoring. Business Insider reasons that an employer facing a potential $100,000 payment on top of a salary would likely pay it only for someone earning well above $100,000 [21]. Set against May 2025 medians, the fee equals about 83% of a data scientist's $120,230 [4][17] and about 71% of the $140,300 earned by computer and information research scientists [5][18]. It is nearly twice the $50,980 median annual wage across all occupations [6][19].
The filings fit that pattern, with limits. Business Insider ties some of the largest increases to generative AI trends [16], and its analysis covers the first three quarters of each of the last three fiscal years [15]. Certified applications are not visas issued, and they may include updates to information on existing employees [9].
The employer-side claim meets a denial from an immigration lawyer. Ted Chiappari, head of immigration law at Duane Morris, told Business Insider that nothing in the changes to H-1B rules or policies "would favor one company over another" [24]. Business Insider's own conclusion is that employers with cash are seeing a relative advantage [20]. In our view both can hold, because a rule can be neutral on its face and still cost less, in relative terms, for a firm that can absorb it. The occupation figures do not show which companies filed them, so the employer-side claim rests on that reasoning.
The candidate side is better evidenced. Catherine Macris, a partner at Fragomen, said recent changes have placed increased emphasis on "specialization, compensation levels, and employer compliance readiness" [11]. Specialized roles "align more readily with evolving H-1B eligibility and wage considerations," Macris said [12]. Wage weighting is a stated rule, and the high-paying occupations in the data show some of the largest increases.
The fee itself is held up in the courts [22]. Chiappari nonetheless said it is "probably the main reason" lottery applications fell [23], in a system where demand still outweighs the 85,000 visas issued each year [8]. How the green-card crackdown works is not described in the account, and the White House and the Department of Labor did not respond to requests for comment [14]. A sponsor filing in the next cycle is pricing a charge that may not apply, and the wage band it files in changes its odds.
What to watch
- A court ruling on the $100,000 fee, which would show whether its deterrent effect needs the charge to be collected.
- The full-fiscal-year H-1B hiring data expected later this year, the first check of filing gains against actual hires.
- Whether next year's lottery applications recover from the more than 38% drop or stay low.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption40
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence55
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
A wage-weighted H-1B cap selection replaced the randomized lottery earlier this year and gives applicants in higher wage bands a greater chance of being selected.
- [2]
Data scientists saw certified H-1B applications rise by nearly a quarter year-over-year in 2026, the largest increase of any job category with more than 5,000 applications.
- [3]
Applications for computer and information research scientists rose nearly 40%.
- [4]
As of May 2025, data scientists earned a median annual salary of $120,230.
- [5]
As of May 2025, computer and information research scientists earned a median annual salary of $140,300.
- [6]
The overall median annual wage was $50,980 as of May 2025.
- [7]
Applications in the March 2026 H-1B lottery dropped more than 38% from the year before, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services said.
- [8]
The US issues 85,000 H-1B visas a year, and demand still outweighs supply.
- [9]
Certified applications are not the same as visas issued and may include updates to information on existing employees.
- [10]
Data that shows the full scope of the fiscal year's H-1B hires is expected to be released later this year.
- [11]
Catherine Macris, a partner at Fragomen, said recent changes have placed increased emphasis on 'specialization, compensation levels, and employer compliance readiness.'
- [12]
Macris said specialized roles 'align more readily with evolving H-1B eligibility and wage considerations.'
- [13]
USCIS spokesperson Zach Kahler said the goal is to have employment-based visas 'supplement, not supplant American workers.'
- [14]
The White House and the Department of Labor did not respond to requests for comment.
- [15]
Business Insider spoke to immigration lawyers and academics and analyzed H-1B application data from the first three quarters of the last three fiscal years.
- [16]
Some of the largest hiring increases in the H-1B data are directly tied to generative AI trends.
- [17]
The $100,000 fee is about 83% of the $120,230 median data scientist salary.
- [18]
The $100,000 fee is about 71% of the $140,300 median salary for computer and information research scientists.
- [19]
The $100,000 fee is nearly twice, about 1.96 times, the $50,980 overall median annual wage.
- [20]
Business Insider concludes that employers with cash and employees with in-demand skills are seeing a relative advantage from the increasingly uncertain H-1B regime.
- [21]
Business Insider reasons that if an employer will potentially pay $100,000 more than someone's salary to hire them, it would likely only do so for someone making quite a bit above $100,000.
- [22]
Trump's proposed $100,000 H-1B fee for new applicants is held up in the courts.
- [23]
Ted Chiappari of Duane Morris said the $100,000 fee is 'probably the main reason' H-1B applications fell.
- [24]
Chiappari told Business Insider there is nothing in any of the changes in H-1B rules or policies that 'would favor one company over another.'
- [25]
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance announced a crackdown on the pathway to green cards for workers at some tech firms, including Microsoft and Adobe.
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Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- businessinsider.comThe winners and losers of the new H-1B era
1 article · October 14, 2026
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