The United States has moved a step closer to revising wage rules for foreign workers after a proposed regulation affecting the H-1B visa and employment-based green card process cleared federal review — a development that could eventually push up minimum wage requirements for sponsored workers.
The proposal was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review two months ago, and the rule is likely to be published shortly for public comment before finalisation.
Prevailing wages determine the minimum salary US employers must pay foreign employees based on occupation and location. Any change to this framework directly affects hiring costs, eligibility thresholds and sponsorship decisions.
While the detailed regulatory text has not yet been released publicly, immigration experts expect the proposal to modify how wage levels are calculated and potentially increase required salary benchmarks across multiple occupations.
During Donald Trump’s earlier tenure as president, the Department of Labor introduced a rule in Oct 2020 that significantly hiked wages for H-1B workers and employment-based green card applicants by 40% to 100%.
The final rule was successfully challenged in court by plaintiffs including the US Chamber of Commerce, the Bay Area Council and Stanford University, and was later withdrawn. While the Biden administration had sought to issue a fresh set of wage rules, the plan was eventually put on the backburner.
The move is significant for Indian professionals, who account for the overwhelming majority of H-1B visa holders and form a large share of employment-based green card applicants in the US, particularly in the technology and healthcare sectors.
According to a report issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), of the total H-1B applications (including extensions) approved in fiscal 2024, 71%, or about 2.8 lakh, were for Indian beneficiaries. Chinese nationals, next in line, accounted for roughly 47,000 approvals, or about 12% of the total.
While the public comment window for any proposed rule is typically open for 30 to 60 days, immigration experts believe the comment period may be restricted to 30 days to expedite finalisation of the wage rule. The revised framework could apply to H-1B beneficiaries selected in the 2027 season. Registrations for the H-1B cap visa are scheduled to open between March 4 and March 19.
TOI has reported earlier that sponsoring employers are not gung-ho about the upcoming H-1B cap season, and the wage rules could be the final dent in the coffin.
Employers are already grappling with the proposed replacement of the random lottery with a wage-weighted selection system, where higher prevailing wage levels sharply improve selection odds.
In addition, the proposed $100,000 entry fee on new H-1B petitions for beneficiaries outside the US — a measure still under intense legal challenge — is prompting some employers to shelve hiring plans or focus instead on recruiting F-1 students already in the US who can transition to H-1B status, as the fee would not apply in such cases. Consular interviews in India have also slowed significantly owing to the social-media vetting policy.
