Trump H-1B Visa: Flaws & Impact

John Lettieri’s proposal to administer the H-1B program by merit is exactly right (

LettersSept. 26). For years, critics have warned that the system isn’t achieving its own goals. Instead of reliably bringing in the world’s best talent to supercharge American innovation, it has often rewarded outsourcing firms that flood the lottery with petitions for midlevel workers who aren’t meaningfully contributing to U.S. dynamism. Employers seeking to hire scarce, high-value talent frequently lose out or don’t even try, given the low chances of winning the lottery.

The Trump administration’s new reforms, a $100,000 petition fee and a wage-level weighted lottery, sound like real fixes. In practice, they will backfire, helping the bad actors the administration says it wants to cut off.