Matching bills backed by Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, and Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., would raise the pay cutoff for certain employers to about $145,600 before they can avoid added U.S.-worker protections when hiring H-1B employees.
The proposals would replace the existing $60,000 cutoff with a figure equal to twice the national average wage index published by the Social Security Administration. Using the latest available index, for 2025, produces the proposed amount. A related master’s degree would remain a separate way to qualify for the exemption.
Husted said the existing cutoff has allowed companies to bypass hiring protections for years.
“For decades, companies have been able to sidestep hiring American workers because of a salary threshold that hasn't budged since 1998,” Husted said in a statement.
A Manifest Law analysis of Labor Department records found that 49,587 of 392,175 certified filings from October 2025 through June 2026 could lose the exemption. The total could be lower if some workers qualify through a related master’s degree.
Smaller employers meet the dependency test with fewer H-1B workers
The added attestations cover H-1B-dependent employers and employers found to have willfully violated H-1B obligations within a specified five-year period. They do not apply to labor condition applications filed solely for exempt H-1B workers.
The federal definition in 20 CFR 655.736 compares an employer’s U.S. workforce, measured in full-time equivalents, with its H-1B employees. The calculation counts H-1B workers who work full time and part time.
| U.S. workforce | H-1B workers needed to meet the test |
|---|---|
| 1 to 25 FTEs | 8 or more |
| 26 to 50 FTEs | 13 or more |
| 51 or more FTEs | At least 15% of the workforce |
The smallest category applies to employers with 25 or fewer U.S. FTEs and more than seven H-1B workers. Firms with 26 to 50 FTEs meet the test above 12 H-1B workers; those with at least 51 FTEs meet it when H-1B employees equal 15% or more of the workforce.
Covered employers must make three promises to protect U.S. workers
Employers subject to the attestations must agree not to lay off U.S. workers in similar jobs within 90 days before or after filing an H-1B petition. The restriction also reaches placements at client worksites.
Before assigning an H-1B employee to a client, the employer must check whether the client has laid off U.S. workers in similar positions. The employer must also recruit U.S. workers first and offer the job to an American applicant who is equally or better qualified.
Jeff Joseph, Manifest Law’s president of immigration strategy and the 79th president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the proposed change could affect employers beyond the technology sector.
“This new bill would narrow the exemption from H-1B dependency and increase the financial implications of hiring H-1Bs,” Joseph said. “The downstream impact will certainly fall on the tech industry, but will also disproportionately harm small employers, start-ups, and non-profits that rely on H1B workers.”
IT services firms and Ohio worksites account for the largest exposure
About 91% of the filings that could lose the exemption came from IT services and computer systems design companies. The affected positions were mainly software developers, systems engineers and programmers. Those firms account for about 31% of all certified H-1B filings.
Median pay for those roles was $106,454, above the existing pay cutoff but below the proposed figure. Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, Capgemini and Infosys together filed about one in four of the potentially affected cases nationwide. The companies frequently place workers with clients.
Ohio worksites had 1,756 potentially affected filings out of 8,061 certified cases, or 21.8%. About 82% of those filings came from employers based outside the state.
Wisconsin’s share was 14.7%, with 414 potentially affected filings among 2,820 certified cases. Employers based elsewhere filed 95% of the Wisconsin cases, led by Infosys and Cognizant.
Other 2026 measures add wage, fee and workplace scrutiny
A Congressional Research Service report described a broader series of federal actions that could raise employer costs or tighten review. In February, the Department of Homeland Security replaced random selection with a weighted lottery intended to favor higher-paid and higher-skilled workers. Its first affected lottery covers employment starting October 2026.
In March, the Labor Department proposed raising prevailing-wage floors across skill levels. The proposal would move the fully competent Level IV floor from roughly the 67th percentile to the 88th percentile of the relevant wage distribution. Entry-level floors would rise from about the 17th percentile of comparable local wages to the 34th. The department estimated a first-year increase of approximately $1.46 billion in H-1B employer costs.
DHS proposed a separate $103,265 charge for each cap-subject petition in August. A separate final rule extended the existing $4,000 9-11 Biometric Fee to H-1B and L-1 extension petitions; that fee is scheduled to end Sept. 30, 2027.
Qualifying employers generally pay an additional $4,000 for H-1B petitions and $4,500 for L-1 petitions when seeking an initial grant of status or a change of employer. The charge applies to employers with more than 50 U.S. employees when more than 50% of their workforce holds H-1B or L-1 status.
A $100,000 fee imposed in September 2025 on employers petitioning for new H-1B workers from abroad is temporarily blocked amid litigation. During its first eight months, initial H-1B petitions for consular processing from cap-exempt employers fell 91% compared with the prior-year period.
President Trump’s September executive order directed agencies to consider whether employers had engaged in or planned layoffs when they process H-1B petitions and related applications. Current law does not bar employers with recent layoffs from hiring H-1B workers.
A CRS report dated Oct. 14 also covered DHS actions affecting H-1B spouses and extensions. The department ended automatic work-authorization extensions for H-1B spouses, effective that day, and proposed ending deference to earlier USCIS eligibility decisions on extension petitions. DHS is also considering removing spouses’ work-authorization eligibility altogether. The prevailing-wage and $103,265 fee measures, as well as a proposed end to the 60-day grace period, remain proposals.
The prior-deference proposal’s public-comment period closes Nov. 13, 30 days after publication. The proposals leave Congress to decide whether to legislate, conduct oversight or leave the administration’s changes in place.
