The Trump-era rule sought to replace the current lottery system of granting H-1B visas with a wage-based system.
In September, the US District Court for the Northern District of California had vacated the rule, following which the Department of Homeland Security withdrew the changes.

On January 8, 2021, the US administration under former President Donald Trump had published a regulation that would modify the way H-1B applicants were awarded visas, shifting from the lottery-based system to one based on ranking and wage levels. The rule, which was supposed to come into effect on March 9, 2021, was among the last few proposals introduced by the Trump administration.
The USCIS uses the lottery system to award visas when companies file more applications than the annual limit of 85,000. For financial year 2022, the USCIS had received more than 300,000 H-1B registrations.

Worth mentioning here is that the decision by the Department of Homeland Security came after the US District Court for the Northern District of California vacated the rule in September.

The former Trump administration on January 8, 2021, published a regulation to end the H-1B visa lottery and replace it with a system that awards H-1B visas by highest to lowest salary. When companies file more H-1B applications than the annual limit of 85,000 (65,000 plus a 20,000-exemption for advance degree holders from U.S. universities) USCIS uses the lottery. It may be noted that USCIS received more than 300,000 H-1B registrations for FY 2022.

Several industry bodies and companies had opposed the proposal.

The US Chamber of Commerce and others had also filed lawsuits against the proposed rule, which resulted in the court verdict, the financial daily mentioned.

The rule — Modification of Registration Requirement for Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions — was among the last few to be brought in by the administration of former US President Donald Trump.

Companies and industry bodies had opposed the move, with the US Chamber of Commerce filing lawsuits against the proposal, which finally resulted in the California district court verdict.
The decision will bring cheer to Indian IT firms as they are one of the key users of H1B visas. Tech majors like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Wipro were some of the “heaviest users of H-1Bs” in 2020, a New York Times report had said earlier.
Protesting the move, industry body NASSCOM had said that giving priority based on wage levels had the potential to damage the innovative companies, hospitals and healthcare providers, research facilities, universities and other petitioners.
“We believe it is important for the US to be able to access talent critical to the COVID recovery phase,” “The visa program bridges a critical skills gap, enabling America to become more competitive globally,