The US has proposed to increase the minimum wages paid to hire an employee under the H1B visa program by 30 per cent over the previously fixed limits, a move the administration claims will help prevent foreigners from undercutting wages of US nationals.
The new rule, proposed by the US Department of Labour on March 27, seeks to increase the minimum wages for four categories from the entry-level to the most-experienced, contending that the existing wage levels were fixed 20 years ago and fail to adequately protect US workers.
According to the proposed rule ‘Improving Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Foreign Nationals in the United States’, the prevailing wage for entry-level foreign workers was USD 73,279 per annum, USD 98,987 (Level II), USD 121,979 (Level III) and USD 144,202 (Level IV).
The new rule, which is now open to public comments till May 26, seeks to increase the prevailing wages for entry-level workers to USD 97,746, a hike of 33.39 per cent over the old rates, USD 1,23,212 (Level II, 24.47 per cent), USD 1,47,333 (Level III, 20.79 per cent), and USD 175,464 (Level IV, 21.68 per cent). The prevailing wages differ from city to city.
According to the Department of Labour, the current methodology allows employers to hire foreigners at wage levels significantly below those paid to similarly employed US.
The proposed changes will dramatically increase the prevailing wage levels used in the H1B, H1B1, E-3, and PERM labour certification programs.
The proposed rules have received mixed responses, ranging from overwhelming support to opposition, contending that smaller companies may no longer be able to hire freshers for entry-level jobs, given the higher prevailing wages.
The window for public comments closes on May 26, following which the Department of Labour will examine the responses and notify the final rule.
The Trump administration, in its first term, had initiated changes to the prevailing wages in 2020 without prior notice or comments, and the move had to be shelved after it ran into legal challenges.
Last year, the administration imposed a USD 1,00,000 fee for H-1B candidates outside the US through a presidential order issued on September 19, 2025.
The same presidential order directed the Secretary of Labour to initiate rulemaking to revise prevailing wage levels under the H-1B program.