The Donald Trump administration is planning to raise the base salary for foreign workers entering the United States on H-1B visas, aiming to prevent employers from easily hiring them instead of American workers. According to a Bloomberg report, an entry-level software engineer in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, would need to be paid $162,000 per year to qualify for an H-1B visa. In contrast, the required salary would be $113,000 in Dallas and $132,000 in New York.
Mixed Reactions from Experts
Experts are cautious about immediately labeling this development as good news for foreign workers. While their salaries will increase, the higher costs may discourage companies from hiring them. Additionally, the $100,000 visa fee for hiring H-1B workers from outside the country remains in place.
Financial Impact on Employers
The report cites an analysis by immigration data companies Lawfully and Threshold, indicating that the largest employers of white-collar foreign talent could face at least $18 billion in additional costs within the first 12 months. Within three years, when most existing H-1B visas will need to be renewed at the higher wage level, the annual cost could reach as high as $43 billion.
Awaiting Final Approval
The proposed salary increase awaits final approval from the Labor Department. The department issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in March, outlining the new wage levels. Under current H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 visa sponsorship processes, employers must obtain a certified labor condition application (LCA) from the Department of Labor. The LCA requires the employer to attest that they will pay the foreign worker the higher of either the actual wage paid to similarly situated employees or the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment.
Expert Opinion
Ronil Hira, an associate professor of political science at Howard University, emphasized the need to avoid distorting the labor market. 'The simplest way to do that is to ensure that the folks who are being brought in really do have specialized skills, and the way to signal that is by wages,' he said.
The proposed changes also affect green card processes. Employers sponsoring foreign workers for second- or third-preference employment-based green cards (EB-2 or EB-3) through a PERM labor certification must typically obtain a prevailing wage determination from the Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification National Prevailing Wage Center.
