New Review Process Adds Layoff Checks to H‑1B Applications

Under the revised H‑1B processing framework, the State, Labor and Homeland Security departments must now consult the Departments of Commerce and Education, as well as the Small Business Administration, before approving any petition. These inter‑agency consultations are designed to evaluate whether the sponsoring employer’s labor practices align with the broader goal of protecting the domestic workforce.

The fact sheet released by the White House notes that the $100,000 fee, first introduced in September 2025, has been renewed without specifying the duration of the renewal or any exemptions. The updated guidance also replaces the previous random selection lottery with a wage‑level weighting system, a change that took effect in fiscal year 2027 and has already lowered registration numbers by roughly 40 percent.

These measures are presented as a response to claimed displacement of U.S. workers and misuse of the program by certain firms that allegedly filed inflated numbers of H‑1B requests while simultaneously shedding large numbers of American employees.