Department of Labor Prevailing-Wage Rule Reaches Office of Management and Budget Review

The Department of Labor has finalized a foreign-worker prevailing-wage rule and sent it to the Office of Management and Budget for review, the last federal review stage before publication. The proposal could raise minimum wage levels used in several employment-based immigration programs.

Background: US Proposes PERM Overhaul: Modernization, Wage-Protection Rule, Prevailing Wage Levels

The rule could affect employers sponsoring H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 workers, as well as employers using PERM labor certification. Workers in those programs could also be affected. No implementation date has been set publicly.

The final text has not been released. The date OMB received the rule is also unclear, so its entry into review should not be mistaken for publication or the start of a new wage requirement.

Once review is complete, the rule is expected to appear in the Federal Register with an implementation date. The final terms remain unknown.

The March proposal would raise all four wage thresholds

DOL issued its proposal in late March 2026 and accepted public comments for 60 days. It would revise the four wage levels calculated from Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data. The proposed figures are not the final rule.

The lowest tier would move from the 17th percentile to the 34th. The proposal also shifts the other three levels upward. Employers should not treat those numbers as current requirements while the final text remains under review.

The wage calculation uses occupation and geographic area, drawing on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ OEWS survey. Its four tiers represent differing levels of skill and experience. The proposal would change how those wage levels are computed.

The Federal Register’s Unified Agenda, published on August 14, 2026, lists the wage-level computation item at “Proposed Rule Stage” and gives no legal deadline. That agenda entry describes the proposal’s status; it does not supply an effective date for the final rule now in review.

A similar wage rule issued at the end of the first Trump Administration faced a court challenge and never took effect. The earlier rule is a precedent, not a decision on the current proposal.

The rule reaches temporary sponsorship and PERM cases

The proposal covers temporary labor condition applications used in H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 sponsorship, along with permanent labor certifications under PERM. The change concerns wage-level computation, not visa selection.

PERM labor certification is part of the permanent-residence process for many foreign workers. If the final rule adopts the proposal’s increases, employers pursuing that process could face higher prevailing-wage determinations as well as sponsors of temporary workers.

The proposal would affect wage calculations across all four levels if finalized as proposed. But the review-stage submission does not confirm that the final rule will retain those figures or apply them in the same way.

Publication will set the first concrete implementation date

After OMB completes its review, publication in the Federal Register is expected to include the rule’s implementation date. The expected interval is 30 or 60 days after publication, but that is a projection, not a date employers can yet use for planning.

Court challenges are possible after the final rule is published. No court outcome is part of the current review stage.

Employers can compare their current wage determinations with the proposal’s four tiers, but should avoid making changes based only on the proposed figures. Foreign workers and sponsors should watch the Federal Register for the final text and its stated implementation date before planning around any new wage levels.