Sen. Jim Banks is pushing a bill that would raise the minimum salary for H-1B visa workers to $150,000, eliminate a major student work program, and replace the lottery system with a bidding model.

The measure, called the American Tech Workforce Act, was introduced this month by Banks, a Republican from Indiana. It is framed as an effort to curb what he described as corporate abuse of U.S. immigration loopholes that allow companies to replace Americans with lower-paid foreign workers.

“Corporations rigged the system to flood the country with cheap foreign labor and drive down wages,” Banks told Breitbart News. “This bill puts American workers first.”

The bill reportedly includes three major changes to the existing H-1B visa framework. It would more than double the minimum wage requirement for foreign workers from $60,000 to $150,000. It would end the Optional Practical Training program, which currently allows foreign graduates of U.S. universities to work for up to three years after completing their studies. And it would replace the lottery-based distribution system with one that allocates visas to the highest-bidding employers.

Banks and his staff have repeatedly argued that large technology companies use the existing system to avoid paying competitive wages. Banks pointed to Microsoft, which laid off thousands of U.S. employees earlier this year while also submitting thousands of H-1B visa applications, as an abuse of the program.

The senator’s statements echoed points made earlier this summer by Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and Vice President JD Vance, as reported by The Dallas Express.

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While the bill was just introduced in the Senate, a similar version was filed by Banks in 2021 when he was serving in the House. That earlier legislation cited findings that 60 percent of H-1B positions were assigned at wages “substantially below the local median” for the occupation, and that the Optional Practical Training program functioned as an employer “tax break” by exempting companies from payroll taxes when hiring foreign graduates.

The proposal comes just days after President Donald Trump issued a proclamation requiring a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa petitions. Confusion initially erupted after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters that the fee would be annual, before the White House clarified it would only be charged once for each new applicant, DX reported.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X that the measure would be a one-time charge, following widespread speculation among businesses and foreign workers.

A White House fact sheet said the step is meant to “curb abuses that displace U.S. workers and undermine national security.” It added that the Departments of Homeland Security and Labor would be directed to enforce new wage rules and prioritize higher-skilled foreign workers.

Industry leaders, foreign governments, and immigration lawyers have already warned that both the Trump policy could disrupt global labor flows. Some companies issued urgent travel advisories to H-1B employees, while workers abroad rushed back to the United States fearing penalties for re-entry, NBC reported. India’s government reportedly warned of “humanitarian consequences” for affected families.

Every year, about 72 percent of H-1B visas go to workers from India and 12 percent to those from China, federal data shows.

Banks’ legislation is set to face review before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Past efforts to overhaul the H-1B system have stalled in Congress.