If you dream of working in the United States on an H-1B visa, a new development in Washington is worth your attention. On 19 October 2026, a US lawmaker publicly outlined a bill that would replace the H-1B lottery with a merit-based selection system — potentially the biggest change to the programme in decades. Here is the most important thing to know first: it is only a bill, not a law. Nothing about the H-1B system has changed yet. Below, we explain exactly what has been proposed, what it would mean for workers from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines, and what you should actually do right now.
What happened: the SMARTER Act, in brief
Congressman David Schweikert of Arizona, who chairs the Joint Economic Committee, announced the details of the SMARTER Act (Securing Migration, Addressing Reform, and Talent Enhancement and Retention Act) on 19 October. The legislation, numbered H.R. 10460, was introduced in the House of Representatives on 16 September and has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
That status matters enormously. A bill referred to committee is at the very beginning of the legislative process — it must pass the House, pass the Senate, and be signed by the President before it becomes law. Most bills never get that far. So for now, this is a proposal, not a rule you need to act on.
What the bill would change for skilled workers
If the SMARTER Act became law, here are the headline proposals affecting employment-based immigration:
- End of the H-1B lottery. The current H-1B selection framework — where visas are allocated essentially at random from the applications pool — would be replaced by a merit-based system. Preference would go to applicants based on their economic contribution, qualifications and labour-market demand. In plain terms: higher skills and higher pay would count more than luck.
- A new talent board. The bill would create a five-member Skilled Migration and Recruitment of Talent Board to set annual immigration limits and divide employment visas among industries. The board would weigh labour shortages, unemployment, wages, productivity and economic growth when deciding how many foreign workers to admit.
- A starting cap of 85,000. The initial numerical limit for the new H-1B-replacement system would be 85,000 visas per year — the same number as today’s H-1B cap — with later adjustments based on economic conditions.
- A points-based green card system. Employment-based permanent immigration would be ranked on a points scale covering age, education, English proficiency, salary and exceptional achievements. Applicants aged 26 to 30 would earn the highest age-related points. Salary would carry substantial weight: being offered pay significantly above your state’s median household income would add points.
- Removal of per-country caps. The bill would remove country-specific numerical limits on employment-based immigration. This could be significant for Indian nationals, who currently face some of the longest green-card backlogs in the world because of these limits — though any real impact would depend on the overall visa numbers the board sets.
- Job-change flexibility. Some applicants who have waited a long time for employment-based green cards would get more freedom to change employers under transitional provisions.
Other big proposals in the same bill
The SMARTER Act goes well beyond skilled worker visas. It also proposes to:
- Restrict family-sponsored immigration primarily to spouses and minor children, removing several existing family-preference categories.
- End the Diversity Visa Programme — the annual green-card lottery.
- Create a “gold card” immigrant visa for applicants who make substantial financial payments.
- Use artificial intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security to identify people who stay in the US after their authorised visa period expires.
The bill’s supporters claim it would reduce federal spending by about $335 billion and add at least $549 billion to US GDP over ten years. Those are projections advanced by the bill’s proponents — not independently verified economic outcomes — so treat them as advocacy numbers, not facts.
What this does NOT change — right now
Let’s be absolutely clear, because rumours travel fast in immigration circles:
- The H-1B lottery still exists. USCIS continues to run the H-1B cap registration and selection exactly as before. The 2027 cap season planning is unaffected.
- No new points system is in force. Age, English scores and salary weighting are proposals only.
- The Diversity Visa lottery is still running. DV applications already submitted or planned are unaffected.
- Family categories are unchanged. Existing family-preference petitions continue to be processed normally.
What should you do if you want an H-1B?
Since nothing has changed legally, your strategy should stay grounded in today’s rules — with an eye on the direction of travel:
- Keep pursuing the normal route. Find a US employer willing to sponsor you, file through the standard H-1B process, and meet all current USCIS requirements. Do not delay your plans waiting for a law that may never pass.
- Strengthen the factors a merit system would reward. If merit-based selection ever arrives, the winners will be workers with strong credentials: advanced qualifications, verifiable work experience, high English proficiency (think IELTS or TOEFL), and competitive salaries. Invest in exactly those things now — they improve your chances under the current system too.
- Track the bill’s progress on official sources only. You can follow H.R. 10460’s real status on Congress.gov. Ignore social-media claims that “the lottery is over” or “new visas are open” — those are either misunderstandings or scams.
- Beware of scams. Every major immigration headline spawns fraud. Nobody can sell you a SMARTER Act visa, pre-register you for a points system, or guarantee selection. Real US immigration processes run through employers, USCIS and official government portals — never through an agent’s “special channel.”
- Watch alongside the other H-1B pressure. This bill arrives in a heated climate: some lawmakers are simultaneously pushing to restrict or even eliminate the H-1B programme, while the administration has just ended automatic work-permit extensions. Expect more proposals — and more noise — in the coming months. We will keep tracking them for you.
The bottom line
The SMARTER Act is a serious, detailed proposal from a senior lawmaker — but a proposal is all it is. If it ever becomes law, it would shift the US system from lottery luck toward skill, salary and education, which could favour well-qualified applicants from South Asia and the Philippines. Until then, the smartest move is unchanged: build your skills, your English and your credentials, pursue sponsorship through the existing system, and verify every headline before you believe it.