India, Dec. 24 -- A sweeping overhaul of the United States' H-1B visa programme under the Trump administration is set to significantly reshape the prospects of Indian professionals hoping to work in the country. By replacing the long-standing random lottery system with a weighted selection model that prioritises higher-skilled and higher-paid applicants, the latest rule change could sharply narrow opportunities for a large section of India's US-bound workforce.

Under the revised regulations announced by the Department of Homeland Security, the United States will scrap the decades-old random lottery used to select H-1B visa beneficiaries and replace it with a weighted selection system.

The new model will prioritise applicants with higher...