DOL’s Sudden Mandatory Pay Increase Rocks H-1B Worker Employers

The U.S. Labor Department’s interim final rule changing prevailing wages for H-1B workers is set to go into effect Thursday, raising the pay for those visa holders by about 30 percent at each of the four wage levels laid out in federal law.

Even as some employers have already adjusted pay levels for those highly skilled workers, the size of the mandated increase could price out companies that depend upon them, immigration lawyers say.

“It is an earthquake for the H-1B program right now,” said Nandini Nair, immigration partner at Greenspoon Marder LLP in Edison, N.J. Employers looking to ...