Republican Representative Chip Roy of Texas has introduced the American White-Collar Worker Jobs Act of 2026, a sweeping legislative proposal that would fundamentally restructure the H-1B visa programme — a move with far-reaching consequences for tens of thousands of skilled foreign professionals, particularly the large cohort of Indian nationals who rely on the visa to work in the United States. The bill was unveiled this week in Washington, adding fresh legislative pressure to an already contentious immigration debate.

Key Provisions of the Bill

The most significant structural change proposed is the replacement of the current H-1B lottery system with a wage-based selection process, under which petitions tied to higher salaries would receive priority. The annual visa cap would remain at 65,000, but distribution would no longer be random. Additionally, the bill would cut the maximum duration of H-1B status from six years to two calendar years and impose a seven per cent per-country limit on annual allocations — a provision that would disproportionately affect applicants from India and China, which historically dominate H-1B filings.

The legislation would also require employers to certify that no qualified American workers are available for a given position, advertise roles domestically, and offer jobs to equally or better qualified US workers before turning to foreign hires. Companies that have conducted recent layoffs would be barred from sponsoring new H-1B workers.

End of OPT and Green Card Pathway

Beyond the H-1B framework itself, the bill proposes eliminating the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, which currently allows foreign graduates of US universities to remain and work in the country after completing their studies. The proposal would also end the use of H-1B visas as a pathway to permanent residency — a route that thousands of Indian professionals have pursued over decades, often waiting years in the green card backlog.

What Roy and Crane Said

Representative Roy framed the bill as a corrective to what he described as decades of systemic abuse. 'For its nearly forty-year history, the H-1B visa has been abused, allowing employers to routinely sideline American STEM workers in favour of cheap foreign labour, while masking layoffs and wage suppression as 'shortages.' It's time to end this lottery-based pipeline and replace it with a system that prioritises merit, enforces real wage standards, and puts American white-collar workers first,' Roy said.

The bill builds on a separate proposal by Representative Eli Crane of Arizona, who has called for a three-year pause on all H-1B issuances followed by broader reform. Crane said: 'An H-1B program overrun with abuse betrays the interests of hardworking Americans by allowing businesses to replace qualified employees with cheaper foreign labour. Congress should be doing everything in our power to prioritise our own citizens rather than facilitating their displacement.'

Industry and Advocacy Reactions

Several immigration-restriction organisations endorsed the proposal. Kevin Lynn, President of US Tech Workers, said the bill would address 'many of the egregious aspects of the H-1B visa program.' Grant Newman of the Immigration Accountability Project said it would convert the programme 'from a cheap labour pipeline into a functioning guestworker program for the truly skilled.' The Federation for American Immigration Reform also backed the legislation, stating it would 'tighten H-1B requirements, prioritise higher-paying positions, and empower American workers to hold corporations accountable.'

Technology companies, consulting firms, healthcare providers, and research institutions — the primary users of H-1B visas — have not yet issued formal responses to the specific bill. Notably, this comes amid broader Republican-led scrutiny of legal immigration pathways, even as some factions within the party have previously defended the H-1B programme as essential to US competitiveness.

What Happens Next

The bill must clear committee review and secure majority support in both chambers before it can become law — a path that remains uncertain given divided opinion on H-1B reform even within the Republican Party. Indian professionals and advocacy groups are expected to closely monitor its progress, as the combined effect of a two-year visa cap, OPT elimination, and the per-country ceiling would significantly narrow legal pathways for Indian talent seeking long-term careers in the US.