Wage hike rule of Trump admin under review

The final wage rule, issued by the Trump government will not apply to the upcoming H-1B filing season. The registration for H-1B is likely to begin in March. This rule was to take effect from March 15, but will now be delayed to May 14, in response to President Joe Biden’s regulatory freeze.

Meanwhile, DOL will be seeking public comments on this extension. Rajiv S Khanna, managing attorney at Immigration.com said, "The May 14, the timeline should take us past the H-1B lottery if the LCA (Labour Condition Application) process is done before the kick-off date."

The registration for H-1B applications (petitions) for the coming season is expected to commence in March. The lottery will be held in April. This spells good news for IT companies who have plans to hire at lower skill levels, and also for research and medical institutions.

The final rule by Trump, which increased wages across all 4-skill levels, had provided a multi-year transition period. The wage hike was not as steep as that contained in the earlier interim final rule introduced last October.

To illustrate, under the final rule, the entry-level wages for H-1B and green card holders was to increase to the 35th% of wages for the occupation and geographic location, from the 17th%.

Now, this final wage rule is under review by the Biden administration. While wage hikes cannot be ruled out, the final picture on the level of wage hikes, if any, will emerge only after DOL finishes its review process and the Biden administration takes a final call.