Bill would stop new H-1B work visas for three years.
S. 5097 — End H–1B Visa Abuse Act of 2026 · Filed by Tim Sheehy (R-MT) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 23, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill pauses all new H-1B visas for three years. After that, it raises the wage floor to $200,000 per year. It charges employers $100,000 per worker. It stops the visa lottery and picks workers by wage instead. H-1B workers could not change jobs, work for staffing agencies, or become permanent residents. Federal agencies could not hire H-1B workers. The bill ends Optional Practical Training for foreign students and stops spousal and dependent visas.
Who it affects
Foreign workers seeking H-1B visas would be blocked or face new rules. Their families would also be affected. Employers in tech, healthcare, and engineering would pay higher fees. They would face limits on hiring. American workers in fields that use H-1B visas might see wage or job changes.
One thing to notice
The bill sets a $200,000 wage floor and $100,000 fee per worker. These are very high amounts. It also bars H-1B workers from becoming permanent residents.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Jul 23, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 23, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Optional Practical Training — A program that lets foreign students work in the United States after graduation to gain job experience.
- permanent residents — People with legal status to live and work in the United States without a time limit.
- wage floor — The lowest amount of money an employer must pay a worker for a job.
- staffing agencies — Companies that find workers for other businesses and manage their pay and schedules.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (9,296 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-17.
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