The Trump administration plans to boost wages for foreign workers who come to the United States on visas for highly skilled employees as part of a broader effort to overhaul the H1-B visa program.
The Department of Labor (DOL) outlined the planned changes on Thursday.
The proposed rule would make it more expensive to hire foreign workers and protect job opportunities and wages of American workers, according to the DOL. The department said it would make a much-needed change to curb the abuse of certain visa programs.
“The Trump Administration is committed to ensuring that American workers are not disadvantaged by unfair wage practices,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement. “This proposed rule will help ensure that employers pay foreign workers wages that reflect the real market value of their labor, in addition to protecting the wages and job opportunities of American workers. The continued abuse of the H-1B program by certain bad actors will no longer be tolerated.”
According to the Labor Department, the proposed rule would change the long‑standing pay system known as the “prevailing wage methodology.” The current system sets the minimum salary employers must offer when hiring foreign workers on H‑1B visas or sponsoring immigrants for permanent residency under EB‑2 and EB‑3 green card categories.
The proposed rule raises required minimum salaries by 21 percent to 33 percent, depending on the worker’s experience level.
The DOL’s plan marks the latest in a series of changes by the Trump administration to overhaul the H-1B visa system. Critics of the system say it has become a low-cost foreign labor pipeline, while supporters say it actually drives innovation by filling specialized positions.
Last year, Trump signed a proclamation imposing a $100,000 annual H-1B visa fee on highly-skilled workers, which is being challenged in court. The president also launched a $1 million “gold card” visa as a pathway to U.S. citizenship for wealthy individuals.
Trump signed a proclamation in September 2025 scrutinizing the H-1B nonimmigrant visa program. The president said it was initially created to bring temporary workers into the U.S. to perform high-skilled functions. Over the years, according to the president, the program has been “deliberately exploited” to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid and lower-skilled labor.
“The large-scale replacement of American workers through systemic abuse of the program has undermined both our economic and national security,” the proclamation stated. “Some employers, using practices now widely adopted by entire sectors, have abused the H-1B statute and its regulations to artificially suppress wages, resulting in a disadvantageous labor market for American citizens, while at the same time making it more difficult to attract and retain the highest skilled subset of temporary workers, with the largest impact seen in critical science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.”
