US Plans To Raise Minimum Salary Requirement For H-1B Visa Holders: How Does It Affect Indians?

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The US government under Donald Trump has proposed a rule which will see the cost of hiring H1-B visa holders jump, as well as raise the required wage threshold for sponsoring employment-based immigration.

As per a report by Forbes, this is being achieved by the US Department of Labor by changing the rules in ways experts have deemed to be inappropriate.

As per the new rules, the proposed minimum salary requirement has been increased from 21 per cent to 33 per cent, but dependent on the experience level of the worker. The rule also comes with a 60-day comment period and can be challenged in court once the final rule is released by the DOL.

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This new rules comes after the Trump administration's measures to clamp down on the number of high-skilled foreigners entering the US, including the imposition of a one-time $100,000 fee for the entry of new H1B visa holders into the country.

This attempt to restrict the inflow of H1B visa holders was also attempted in October 2020, when a rule was announced to raise the minimum salary requirement, but was blocked by US judges citing inadequate justification.

A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking has been released by the US Department of Labor, which aims to modify how "prevailing wages" are calculated for workers from foreign countries, including those holding H1B, H1B1, and E3 visas and for EB2 and EB3 visas via the certification process called PERM which allows for permanent immigration.

“The prevailing wage rate is defined as the average wage paid to similarly employed workers in a specific occupation in the area of intended employment,” as per the Department of Labor. However their proposed rule does not meet this definition and instead comes up with a new standard which is above the current wage.

Suggestions of new policy

The US Labor Department has said that it wants to revise regulations governing Labor Condition Applications as well as the PERM program.

“These proposed revisions aim to better align prevailing wage levels with the wages paid to U.S. workers who are similarly employed in the occupation and area of intended employment," the Labor department has claimed.

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The proposal is also trying to fix the exploitation of these programs by the employers who tend to offer lower wages.

“The Department's proposed revisions also seek to strengthen program integrity by reducing the incentive for employers to use these programs to replace, rather than supplement, U.S. workers by employing lower-paid alien workers.”

Effects and implications

If wages are increased significantly for H1B workers, it will restrain employers from hiring foreign nationals in large numbers. This will mainly affect entry-level foreign workers who will see available opportunities going down.

This will affect Indians to a great degree, since a huge fraction of H1B as well as EB-2 and EB-3 Green Card applicants are Indians.

If this proposal is passed, it will see more opportunities for highly skilled and experienced professionals, but recent graduates and those applying for entry-level jobs may feel the brunt of the same.

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