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If finalized, a proposed rule from the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would thwart the administration’s goal of creating a high-skilled manufacturing renaissance in the U.S., the NAM said on Friday.

What’s going on: Last month, DHS published a proposed rule that would change the way USCIS runs the lottery used to choose petitions for H-1B visas—those work permits issued to highly skilled, foreign-born employees.

• The proposed rule would replace the current system (selection by random lottery) with a weighted selection process—i.e., a lottery that gives greater chances to higher-wage applicants.

The challenge: “The manufacturing industry faces a critical workforce shortage that is a key hindrance to realizing our growth potential,” NAM Vice President of Domestic Policy Jake Kuhns told DHS.

• “While manufacturers in the U.S. are investing heavily in the development of our homegrown workforce, these efforts cannot fully meet the industry’s needs”—and American manufacturing depends on non-U.S.-born STEM employees.

What’s at stake: “Modern manufacturing runs on innovation and is vitally dependent on a steady pipeline of high-skilled talent, both foreign and domestic, in particular in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (‘STEM’),” said Kuhns. The proposed change would only exacerbate the skilled-worker shortage in U.S. manufacturing because it:

• Is “inconsistent with the letter and intent of the Immigration and Nationality Act”;
• Favors seniority, not skill; and
• Disproportionately harms small and medium-sized manufacturers.

What should be done: DHS should reassess the proposal, Kuhns concluded, to consider “reserving a portion of the cap or enhancing the selection odds for lottery registrations” from manufacturers “applying for H-1B visas for engineering and similar roles that support core manufacturing functions (such as the design and development of products and technologies, and the reshoring, design, development and operation of manufacturing production capacity) or the development or deployment of certain foundational technologies that are critical to the U.S.’s global economic competitiveness (such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum computing).”