Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas has introduced the American White-Collar Worker Jobs Act of 2026, legislation that would overhaul the H-1B visa program and make it more difficult for foreign workers to transition to permanent residency in the United States. The bill would replace the current lottery-based selection process with a wage-based system intended to favor employers offering higher salaries. It would also require companies to demonstrate efforts to recruit American workers before hiring H-1B employees and would restrict firms that recently conducted layoffs from sponsoring additional foreign workers.

The proposal also targets the Optional Practical Training, or OPT, program, which allows many international students to work in the United States after graduation. Under the legislation, the program would be eliminated, removing a pathway frequently used by foreign graduates to gain work experience before seeking H-1B status. The bill further seeks to limit the use of adjustment-of-status procedures that many H-1B holders rely on while pursuing employment-based green cards, a change that could affect thousands of skilled workers already living and working in the country.