(UNITED STATES) — The U.S. Department of Labor moved closer to tightening wage standards tied to the H-1B visa and employment-based green cards after its proposal cleared review by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget on February 20, 2026.
The clearance advances a proposed rule titled “Improving Wage Protections for H-1B and PERM Employment in the United States,” part of a broader federal push to link employment-based immigration more directly to domestic wage protections.
OMB review is a gate in the federal rulemaking pipeline, and its completion signals the Department of Labor is preparing to publish the proposal in the Federal Register and open a public comment period before any final rule takes effect.
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs dashboard on Reginfo.gov marked the review “Consistent with Change” for RIN 1205-AC30, an entry that stakeholders often track as a proposal nears publication.
The Department of Labor has not published the full text of the proposal yet, but the agency has framed the effort as a move to revise the way “prevailing wages” are calculated across both temporary work visas and the PERM labor certification process used by employers sponsoring workers for permanent residence.
Prevailing wages sit at the center of the compliance structure for many employment-based cases, shaping what employers attest to when they file labor condition applications for H-1B workers and what they must commit to when they sponsor a worker through PERM.
In the H-1B system, the wage methodology influences whether an offered salary satisfies program requirements for a specialty occupation role and whether the filing aligns with wage rules intended to protect U.S. workers.
In the PERM process, wage setting shapes the employer’s recruiting and offer requirements, including the wage commitment attached to a green card sponsorship that can extend well beyond the first year of employment.
Officials have described the wage proposal as a way to ensure foreign workers are paid wages that more closely match U.S. market standards and to reduce potential wage undercutting.
Policymakers have also pointed to concerns about the use of lower-paid foreign labor and to the classification of jobs into government-defined prevailing wage levels, a structure that influences both compliance obligations and employer cost planning.
Immigration practitioners expect revisions to prevailing wage calculations, and the Department of Labor proposal has drawn attention because wage methodology changes can raise minimum salary requirements that flow through hiring budgets, candidate selection, and long-term sponsorship costs.
For employers, higher wage floors can translate into higher compensation offers to qualify for sponsorship, while also increasing downstream costs for companies that plan to sponsor workers for permanent residence through PERM.
Entry-level roles could face more pressure if wage minimums rise, particularly for employers that rely on large numbers of early-career hires and must decide how much wage growth they can absorb.
At the same time, wage-centered compliance and selection systems can reward higher-paid roles, potentially improving the relative position of specialized jobs that already command higher wages.
The wage proposal’s scope also matters for students moving from F-1 status into work authorization and then into H-1B sponsorship, because an early-career salary can shape both an employer’s willingness to sponsor and how the role is classified under prevailing wage levels.
Budget tradeoffs may sharpen for companies that sponsor both H-1B workers and green cards, because PERM wage commitments can influence multi-year workforce planning and the cost of maintaining a pipeline of sponsored employees.
The regulatory timing has added urgency because a separate Department of Homeland Security change to H-1B selection mechanics takes effect this week, shifting the cap process toward wage-weighted selection.
DHS finalized a rule titled “Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking to File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions,” and it becomes effective on February 27, 2026.
The change replaces a purely random lottery with a “wage-weighted” model that gives higher-paid roles more entries in the selection pool, a design that favors higher wage levels and can reshape how employers decide which roles to register.
Under the new weighting structure, Level IV wages receive 4 entries in the selection pool, Level III wages receive 3 entries, Level II wages receive 2 entries, and Level I wages receive 1 entry.
In a USCIS statement dated December 23, 2025, the agency said: “The Department of Homeland Security is amending regulations. to prioritize the allocation of visas to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens to better protect the wages, working conditions, and job opportunities for American workers.”
Taken together, the Department of Labor’s wage-methodology proposal and DHS’s wage-weighted selection system point in the same direction: higher wages can influence both the compliance floor employers must meet and the odds a registration will be selected.
That interaction matters because employers often set compensation and job levels months before they register candidates, and any shift in prevailing wage methodology can ripple into both offer strategy and cap-season planning.
If employers see higher wages as necessary to improve selection odds under the new DHS approach, some may weigh whether to raise offers for certain roles, concentrate registrations on positions likely to fall into higher wage levels, or reconsider sponsorship for entry-level positions.
F-1 students and other early-career candidates could feel the effects if entry-level positions sit at Level I and therefore receive fewer entries under the wage-weighted system, while higher-paying roles receive more entries.
For mid-career professionals and specialized experts, the wage-weighted framework can tilt the contest toward higher-paid positions, even before any Department of Labor wage-methodology change is finalized.
The Department of Labor proposal also extends beyond the H-1B cap season because PERM cases operate on longer timelines, and wage commitments can constrain employer decisions about when to start the green card process and how to budget for multi-year sponsorship.
The federal rulemaking process now turns to publication and comments, with the Federal Register expected to provide the authoritative text, effective dates, and instructions for submitting public input.
The Department of Labor proposal is expected to move next to the Federal Register, and publication would trigger a public comment period before the department reviews feedback and decides whether and how to finalize the rule.
The timeline described for the process includes a 30–60 day public comment period, followed by review of stakeholder feedback and eventual issuance of a final rule.
Comment periods in wage methodology rules often draw detailed submissions focused on wage survey methodology, how wage levels are set, occupational and geographic variance, and how quickly new requirements should take effect.
Implementation lead time can be a major theme in public input because wage changes can require updates to employer pay bands, compliance systems, and offer practices tied to recruiting and long-term sponsorship.
Final rules can differ from proposals after the comment period and internal review, and employers, universities, and immigration practitioners typically monitor both the Federal Register text and follow-on agency guidance for operational detail.
The Department of Labor wage proposal is not the only cost pressure in the H-1B system mentioned in recent federal updates, as some H-1B petitions filed for workers outside the United States are now subject to a $100,000 fee per Presidential Proclamation 10973 issued Sept 19, 2025.
USCIS confirmed on January 30, 2026, that F-1 students changing status from within the United States are exempt from the new $100,000 entry fee, a carveout that intersects with the student-to-workforce pipeline.
The FY 2027 H-1B cap calendar now brings these policy shifts into the same narrow window in which employers register candidates and make compensation decisions that can affect selection odds.
USCIS set March 4, 2026 (12:00 PM ET) as the opening of the initial registration period, and it closes at March 19, 2026 (12:00 PM ET).
USCIS intends to notify selected registrants on March 31, 2026, setting up the next step for employers that secure a selection.
The filing period begins on April 1, 2026 for selected H-1B petitions, a start date that typically forces employers to align documentation, job details, and wage information quickly after selections arrive.
Missing the registration window can eliminate cap eligibility for that cycle, making the March registration dates a hard boundary for employers and prospective workers planning cap-subject filings.
For companies, the new wage-weighted selection model can add pressure to align compensation offers with wage levels before registration, because the number of entries assigned to a registration depends on wage level.
For workers, the selection mechanics can raise the stakes of early salary negotiation and job selection, particularly for candidates weighing multiple offers that may fall into different wage levels.
Universities and student advisers may also track these developments because the OPT-to-H-1B pathway often depends on entry-level hiring, and selection odds may shift if entry-level roles receive fewer entries than higher wage levels.
The Department of Labor’s wage-methodology proposal sits upstream of these decisions because prevailing wage calculations underpin how jobs are categorized and what employers must pay to comply with program rules.
The Department of Labor has not released the precise wage increases in the proposal text, but the regulatory milestone at OMB indicates the agency is moving toward formal publication and a process that will solicit detailed public input.
Stakeholders seeking to track the rule’s movement can monitor the OIRA Regulatory Review Dashboard (RIN 1205-AC30), which logs major steps in OMB review and provides a reference point as rules advance.
Once published, the Federal Register will serve as the authoritative source for the proposed rule text, its comment instructions, and later any final rule or updates tied to implementation.
For the DHS selection change, the Federal Register rule lays out the wage-weighted approach that becomes effective February 27.
USCIS has also posted the cap-season timeline in an alert, and employers and registrants can track registration dates and operational updates through the agency’s channels, including the FY 2027 H-1B cap registration alert.
With the Department of Labor’s wage proposal now past the Office of Management and Budget and DHS’s wage-weighted selection days from taking effect, employers and workers face a cap season in which compensation ties more directly to both eligibility rules and selection odds.
Department of Labor and OMB Push H-1B Visa Wage Rule Closer to Final
U.S. federal agencies are tightening H-1B visa rules by linking selection odds and eligibility to higher salary standards. The Department of Labor’s new proposal aims to revise prevailing wage calculations, while the Department of Homeland Security is implementing a weighted lottery that favors higher-paid roles. These changes force employers to reconsider compensation strategies and entry-level sponsorships as the March 2026 H-1B registration period approaches.
