Transformational Changes to H-1B Program Proposed

Congressman Eli Crane (R-AZ) on April 22, 2026, introduced the End H-1B Visa Abuse Act, H.R. 8443. For the current status of the bill, more information about it, and a list of cosponsors, go here.

Overview:

Rep. Crane’s bill would dramatically overhaul the H-1B program. First, it would pause the program entirely for three years. Then, it would reduce the annual numerical cap from 85,000 (plus exemptions) to 25,000, render staffing agencies ineligible for the program, and impose a $200,000 salary floor on all employers, while codifying the Trump $100K fee. In addition to the targeted reforms to the H-1B program, the bill would overhaul immigration to the country by ending adjustment of status and change of status for aliens in-country, terminating the Optional Practical Training Program (OPT) for alien students, and abolishing spouse and family derivatives for all H visa holders. The reductions in annual H-1B visa allocations, combined with the reduction in employment authorization caused by eliminating H-4 and OPT, would result in hundreds of thousands of jobs being opened up for American applicants. 

Introduction:

The H-1B program was created by Congress in 1990 after they were told by the National Science Foundation (NSF) about a looming labor shortage of roughly 675,000 scientists and engineers. The H-1B program was therefore sold as a narrow surgical measure to plug a particularly crucial labor gap in an industry Congress was keen to invest in and support. But no labor shortage ever arose, and in 1995, NSF was repudiating their predictions of a shortage. However, the program has been used to provide massive amounts of cheap labor to tech employers for the past 36 years, along with many years of stagnant wages and lost job opportunities for American workers.

H-1B Overhaul

H.R. 8443 mandates a three-year pause on the issuance of any H-1B visas. The duration of this pause, in combination with the fact that H-1B visas would be limited to a single, three-year period of duration, means that all H-1B visa holders currently in the United States would be required to depart from the country during the pause, as their visas expired. This alone would open up hundreds of thousands of jobs for American workers.

Once the pause ended, Rep. Crane’s bill would reform the H-1B program with the understanding that it was built on a false premise and close loopholes that have allowed employers to exploit foreign and American workers. Since the H-1B program was created on the premise of an illusory labor shortage, the annual numerical limit was high, and exemptions from the cap existed to increase the H-1B visa supply even further. 

H.R. 8443 would reduce the annual numerical cap from 85,000 (including 20,000 visas for aliens with Master’s degrees) to 25,000 and eliminate all exemptions from the cap. For reference on the significance of this reduction, in FY24, initial employment H-1B petitions numbered 141,205, and there were 258,190 H-1B continuing employment petitions. That means the 85,000 H-1B annual cap represented roughly 60 percent of the initial employment H-1B visas approved in FY24. The exemptions have swallowed the rule. Under Rep. Crane’s bill, the number of H-1B initial employment petitions in FY24 would have been reduced by 82 percent. The number of continuing employment H-1B petitions would be reduced to zero, since H.R. 8443 would eliminate visa extensions.

Since its inception, the H-1B program has been at the center of controversy about American workers being forced to train their cheaper replacements. Additionally, there have been countless stories of American workers being discriminated against by employers that only wanted to hire foreign visa workers. For those Americans lucky enough to keep their jobs, the labor arbitrage ensured wages stagnated as companies that did not use H-1B directly instead worked with third-party employers/staffing agencies to hire their cheap workforce. 

Rep. Crane’s bill would eliminate the possibility of using H-1Bs as cheap-labor substitutes by codifying the $100K H-1B fee imposed by President Trump, expanding it to apply to all H-1B employers, and setting a wage floor of $200,000 annually. The bill also would require employers to recruit American workers and to promise to protect American jobs while employing aliens. Each loophole that has fleeced American workers out of wages and opportunities would be closed by this bill. 

Restoring Integrity to the Legal System

In addition to crucial H-1B reforms, H.R. 8443 would close several loopholes that have invited fraud into the system and misery into the lives of American workers. Rep. Crane’s bill would make “temporary” nonimmigrant visas actually temporary by ending adjustment and change of status for aliens in the United States. “Adjustment of status” allows aliens in the United States to apply for legal permanent resident status (LPR), also called a “green card,” without first departing the country. “Change of status” allows aliens to change from one temporary status to another without leaving the country. Aliens use both adjustment of status and change of status to remain in the country long past when the visa on which they were admitted expires. Crucially, because of delays in processing and overwhelmed adjudication staff, aliens can hopscotch between statuses for years without much direct oversight. This is a clear vulnerability and not how the system was designed to function. Adjustment of status and change of status are fraud vulnerabilities and create additional busy work for overwhelmed adjudicators. Under the Crane bill, aliens would still be able to apply for new legal status, but they would have to do so from their home countries. Rep. Crane’s bill would greatly reduce backlogs, wait times, and immigration fraud. 

Speaking of ending fraud, H.R. 8443 would end the OPT program. OPT allows hundreds of thousands of tax-discounted foreign students to undercut American graduates' wages and job opportunities by remaining in the United States and working here following graduation. Additionally, Rep. Crane’s bill would prohibit all H temporary workers (including H-1Bs) from bringing their family members to the United States with them. President Obama initially gave the spouses (H-4 visa holders) of H-1B employees employment authorization, nearly doubling the impact of the H-1B program on American workers. Rep. Crane’s bill would drastically reduce cheap labor competition by reducing these two massive cheap labor pipelines. 

Conclusion:

Rep. Crane’s bill would restore integrity to the immigration system and drastically reduce competition from cheap labor in highly lucrative industries. H.R. 8443 would reduce initial H-1B visas by around 80 percent and eliminate between 200,000 and 300,000 employment authorizations for OPT and H-4 alien workers. For the 25,000 H-1B workers admitted annually following the H-1B pause, wages would be higher than the current median salaries for all H-1Bs and their employers would be required to pay an additional $100,000 fee for the privilege. The bill’s broader legal reforms would reduce the incentive for fraudulent filings, increase the ability of adjudicators to vet bona fide applicants, and restore meaning to the requirements in the law that guest workers come temporarily for a specific, enumerated, authorized purpose.