American White-Collar Worker Jobs Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill slashes the maximum H-1B visa stay from six years to just two calendar years and caps each company's nonimmigrant workforce at 5 percent of its total U.S. employees. These changes would dramatically reduce how long foreign professional workers can stay and how many a single employer can hire.
• Employers would be required to pay H-1B workers at or above the 75th percentile wage for their occupation and location, a major increase over current requirements. When the annual visa cap is reached, visas would go to the highest-paid applicants first instead of using a random lottery.
• Companies must prove they tried to hire Americans first by advertising on a government job website, offering the job to equally qualified U.S. applicants, and showing the unemployment rate in that occupation is below 2 percent. If a company displaces an American worker with a foreign worker, that worker can sue in federal court.
• H-1B holders would be required to prove they have a residence abroad they intend to return to, ending the common practice of transitioning from temporary work visa to permanent residency. The bill also removes provisions that let H-1B workers stay beyond the normal time limit while their green card applications are pending.
• The bill gives the Department of Labor new enforcement powers including the ability to fine employers up to $100,000 per violation and ban them from using H-1B workers for up to 10 years. It also limits visa holders from any single country to no more than 7 percent of the total annual cap.