Republicans have introduced legislation designed to increase a critical compensation threshold within the H-1B visa program, raising it from $60,000 to approximately $140,000. This modification could have substantial implications for organizations that depend significantly on international talent acquisition.
Republican Senator Jon Husted from Ohio has introduced a similar bill in the Senate. This proposal emerges as the Trump administration and some congressional Republicans advance efforts to reform the H-1B program through increased fees, more rigorous evaluations, and enhanced limitations on companies employing international talent. “Employers should not be able to use a salary threshold established nearly three decades ago to bypass protections for qualified Americans. There is no excuse for leaving this threshold unchanged when it should have been raised years ago. If this proposal be implemented, the salary-based exemption would become more restrictive, especially for employees whose compensation falls below the new threshold and who lack the advanced qualifications necessary for alternative exemption pathways.
The $60,000 threshold, which has remained unchanged since 1998, would be replaced under Grothman’s proposed legislation with a dynamic threshold calculated at twice the Social Security Administration’s National Average Wage Index. This adjustment would establish the new figure at approximately $140,000, according to Grothman’s office.
“American workers should come first in their own country,” the congressman said in a news release on Tuesday.
