DOL Proposes Significant Hike to H-1B and PERM Wage Levels

March 31, 2026•8 min read

Katja Frommer

Attorney

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DOL Proposes Significant Hike to H-1B and PERM Wage Levels

A lot of the changes employers and applicants have seen in the last few years to programs like the H-1B, E3, and PERM fall into a more generalized narrative of “how does the U.S. prevent abuse of the program(s)?”. These are things like the beneficiary-centric process, the new weighted lottery, etc. The U.S. wants to prevent companies from onshoring cheaper foreign labor for jobs that legitimately can be filled and performed with domestic supply. The most recent example of this narrative continuation is a newly proposed rule (it’s not law yet, but we’ll get to that) is a marked increase in the prevailing H-1B, H-1B1, E3, and PERM wage levels.

The importance of wage tables

On March 27, 2026, the Department of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would push prevailing wage levels substantially higher across the H-1B, H-1B1, E-3, and PERM programs. If you're an employer who relies on any of these to bring in foreign national workers, this proposal is worth understanding while there's still time to weigh in. The short version: wages would go up, and by a meaningful amount.

“For anyone who doesn’t already know, many visa applications are tied to a prevailing wage tier. When you apply for certain visas, your sponsoring company has to assign a wage level to the job in question. Those wage tiers correspond to the seniority of the role for which they’re hiring. Level I is basically entry level, Wage Level IV is a senior employee with notable experience and expertise. Then, depending on where the job is located, the Department of Labor assigns prevailing wage ranges to each tier based on cost of living, etc. in that geography.”

What's actually changing with wage levels

More specifically, each wage tier is pegged to a percentile of the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey. The DOL is proposing to shift all four of those tiers upward...

Wage Level

Current Percentile

Proposed Percentile

Level I

~17th

34th

Level II

~34th

52nd

Level III

~50th

70th

Level IV

~67th

88th

The DOL estimates these changes would raise the average certified prevailing wage by approximately $14,000 per worker per year. That means for employers who sponsor foreign nationals at any scale, the financial impact could be substantial.

Why the DOL is doing this

The agency's current, stated position is that the wage floors allow employers to pay H-1B and PERM workers less than comparable U.S. workers, which (in their view) creates a structural incentive to hire foreign nationals over domestic talent. The agency’s analysis found that H-1B workers were paid an average of roughly $10,000 less per year than the OEWS mean wage for their occupation and location.

This rulemaking was also specifically triggered by a September 2025 Presidential Proclamation directing the DOL to strengthen H-1B wage protections, so this proposal didn't emerge from a vacuum.

Private wage surveys

Employers will still have the option to use private wage survey data instead of OEWS figures, which matters for niche labor markets or positions with genuinely unusual requirements. The DOL has flagged that it will be monitoring private survey use more carefully going forward, though. A question you should be pretty confident in answering: Will your documentation hold up if DOL took a closer look? A private survey that likely can’t survive scrutiny probably shouldn't be the basis of a wage determination.

E-3 and H-1B1 holders

Worth noting: these changes won't be limited to H-1B and PERM. The E-3 (for Australian professionals) and H-1B1 (for Chilean and Singaporean professionals) categories both require the same Labor Condition Application from the DOL, which means they'd be subject to the same higher wage floors if this rule goes into effect.

The comment period

The proposed rule is open for public comment until May 26, 2026. If the proposed increases would significantly affect your hiring costs or workforce planning, submitting a comment is a real opportunity to put that on record, whether individually or through an industry association. These comment periods are how employers actually get heard during rulemaking, and this is a proposal with real financial implications for businesses that depend on these programs. If you need any help navigating these new changes, we’re always here to help..

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