Updated November 12, 2026

H-1B visa wage levels: how DOL sets Levels I to IV and how USCIS weights the lottery

H-1B visa wage levels divide local occupational pay into four tiers, from entry-level Level I up to fully competent Level IV. Under Department of Labor rules, your employer must pay the higher of your local prevailing wage or the internal actual wage for similar workers. Starting in fiscal year 2027, USCIS also enters cap registrations into the selection pool 1, 2, 3, or 4 times based on wage level.

What the four H-1B prevailing wage levels mean

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, hiring an H-1B worker cannot hurt the pay or working conditions of comparably employed US workers. To enforce that rule, the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) data across the United States. BLS has supplied these survey figures since 1998 and grouped jobs under Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes since September 1999.

Under the H-1B Visa Reform Act and the Department of Labor's November 2009 Prevailing Wage Determination Policy Guidance, government wage surveys set four pay tiers for every occupation and geographic area. Each tier reflects the experience, education, and supervision required by the job offer, not simply how many years you have worked in your career.

Wage levels establish the prevailing wage floor, which is only half of the legal pay test. Under Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division Fact Sheet #62G, your employer must pay at least the required wage. The required wage is whichever rate is higher between the local prevailing wage and the employer's actual in-house wage for workers with similar experience and qualifications.

The actual wage is not a company-wide average across an occupation. If no other employees perform similar work at that worksite, the actual wage is the rate paid to you. Employers also cannot pay less than any applicable federal, state, or local minimum wage. For universities, affiliated nonprofits, nonprofit research organizations, and government research bodies, prevailing wages compare pay only across those types of institutions in the local area.

The four H-1B wage levels and USCIS lottery selection weights

How H-1B wage levels affect the weighted cap lottery

Congress limits new cap-subject H-1B approvals each fiscal year to a 65,000 regular cap (with up to 6,800 reserved for H-1B1 workers from Chile and Singapore) plus a 20,000 exemption for beneficiaries holding a US master's or higher degree. Starting in fiscal year 2027, USCIS replaced equal random draws with a weighted beneficiary-centric selection process when registrations exceed the annual cap.

During electronic registration, your prospective employer declares the highest OEWS wage level that your offered salary equals or exceeds for your SOC code and intended worksite area. USCIS enters unique beneficiaries at Level IV into the selection pool 4 times, Level III 3 times, Level II 2 times, and Level I 1 time.

Even with multiple pool entries or offers from unrelated companies, USCIS counts each unique beneficiary only once toward the annual cap projection. USCIS runs the regular cap selection first across all eligible beneficiaries, including US master's degree holders. It then runs the 20,000 advanced degree selection among the remaining eligible master's beneficiaries.

USCIS's H-1B Electronic Registration FAQs set four anti-gaming rules for tricky pay structures and multi-city roles:

• Multiple worksites or agent positions: If you will work across more than one geographic location, or in multiple positions through an agent, your employer must select the lowest corresponding OEWS wage level that your offered salary equals or exceeds across all locations.
• Salary ranges: If your offer states a pay range, your employer must select the OEWS wage level that the lowest figure in that range equals or exceeds.
• Non-OEWS surveys below Level I: If your employer relies on an independent authoritative survey or another legitimate source that produces a legal prevailing wage lower than OEWS Level I, the registrant must select Wage Level I.
• Missing OEWS wage data: If no current OEWS prevailing wage table exists for your specific occupation and area, your employer must assign the wage level by scoring your job's requirements under the Department of Labor's prevailing wage guidance.

Registration wage level vs. LCA prevailing wage level

Candidates and employers often confuse the wage level used on the Department of Labor's Labor Condition Application (LCA, Form ETA-9035) with the wage level entered on USCIS's cap registration. Although both rely on the same four OEWS tiers, the two agencies measure different things.

For the LCA, the Department of Labor sets your minimum required prevailing wage tier by looking strictly at the employer's minimum job requirements. A role requiring only a bachelor's degree, zero prior experience, and close supervision qualifies for a Level I prevailing wage floor on the LCA, even if the company chooses to pay you a much higher market salary.

For USCIS cap registration, the selection tier comes from comparing your actual proffered salary to the four OEWS tiers for that SOC code and worksite. If your role has Level I minimum entry requirements on the LCA, yet your employer genuinely offers a base salary that meets or beats the local OEWS Level III figure, your employer selects Level III on the registration.

Once selected, the Form I-129 petition must back up that registration choice. USCIS requires petitioners to submit evidence proving the basis of the registered wage level on the date the registration was submitted. Your Form I-129 must match the registered SOC code and worksite area, and it must state a proffered wage that equals or exceeds the registered OEWS tier.

One technical difference will not trigger a mismatch denial. Some jobs use an 8-digit O*NET-SOC code on the certified LCA, such as 17-2051.01 for Transportation Engineers, while registration and Form I-129 use the 6-digit SOC group 17-2051 for Civil Engineers. USCIS confirms that pairing a 6-digit SOC code on Form I-129 with a matching 8-digit O*NET-SOC code on the LCA is consistent.

How DOL calculates your LCA wage level: the 5-step worksheet

When the National Prevailing Wage Center (NPWC) issues a wage determination or an employer self-levels an LCA, it follows Appendix A through Appendix E of the Prevailing Wage Determination Policy Guidance. Every job starts at a baseline of 1 point (Level I). Points are added only when the employer's minimum requirements exceed the baseline occupational standard in O*NET.

Work through the five steps in order. Never double-count the same credential across multiple steps. For instance, if an advanced degree substitutes for work experience in Step 2, you do not add points for it again in Step 3.

Worked example written by our team using the DOL worksheet rules (the job offer is invented): Suppose an employer hires for a professional occupation where Appendix D lists a bachelor's degree as the usual entry degree. The job offer requires a master's degree, work experience in the low end of the O*NET Job Zone Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) range, standard software listed in O*NET, and direct supervision of two junior analysts. Starting from the baseline of 1, add 1 point in Step 2 for low-end experience, 1 point in Step 3 for requiring one degree category above Appendix D, 0 points in Step 4, and 1 point in Step 5 for supervisory duties. By our calculation from the DOL worksheet, 1 plus 1 plus 1 plus 0 plus 1 equals 4, placing the LCA minimum at Level IV. Any point sum above 4 is also capped at Level IV.

DOL 5-step Prevailing Wage Determination Worksheet scoring for Job Zones 2 to 5

How to check your H-1B wage level using DOL wage data

The Department of Labor publishes current OEWS prevailing wage tables free to the public through the Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) Wage Search tool on the Foreign Labor Application Gateway (FLAG). Because wage cutoffs vary sharply between cities and counties, even a small change in worksite address can shift your wage level.

Follow these four steps to look up the exact OEWS cutoffs for your position:

• Step 1, Match duties to an O*NET-SOC code: Search O*NET OnLine using your core duties rather than an internal company title. Review the Tasks, Knowledge, Work Activities, and Job Zone summary. If your role combines duties from two distinct occupations, DOL policy requires selecting the O*NET-SOC code for the higher-paying occupation.
• Step 2, Pinpoint every worksite county and area: Prevailing wages apply to the area of intended employment, defined as normal commuting distance from the physical workplace. Any location inside the same Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) shares the same wage table. If you work from home or visit client offices in different cities, pull the wage data for every state, county, and city where you will work.
• Step 3, Pull Level I to IV rates on the FLAG Wage Search: Enter your state, geographic area, and 6-digit SOC code in the OFLC Wage Search on FLAG. The table returns both hourly and annual rates across all four levels. Under DOL guidance, conversions between hourly and annual pay use 2,080 work hours per year.
• Step 4, Run both the LCA test and the registration test: First confirm your guaranteed base pay meets or beats the required LCA tier from the 5-step worksheet and your employer's internal actual wage. Next find the highest OEWS tier your offered pay equals or exceeds across all worksites to see your cap lottery entry weight.

Three allowed wage sources, safe-harbor status, and private surveys

Unlike permanent labor certification (PERM) or H-2B filings, H-1B employers are not forced to wait for a formal determination from the National Prevailing Wage Center before filing an LCA. Instead, Department of Labor rules give H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 petitioners three ways to establish the prevailing wage, unless a union collective bargaining agreement sets a controlling rate.

First, the employer can submit Form ETA-9141 electronically on FLAG to request a Prevailing Wage Determination (PWD) from the NPWC. An NPWC determination remains valid for at least 90 days and up to 1 year. Using an NPWC determination grants the employer safe-harbor status. If the Wage and Hour Division investigates later, it will not challenge the validity of that wage rate as long as the employer gave the right geographic area, occupation, and skill level.

Second, the employer can use a wage survey conducted by an independent authoritative source. Third, the employer can rely on another legitimate source of wage data, which includes pulling the OEWS rate directly from the OFLC Wage Search library when preparing the LCA.

Employers who submit or rely on an independent or employer-conducted survey instead of OEWS data must satisfy strict statistical rules in the DOL prevailing wage guidance:

• No union contract: Employer-provided surveys cannot be used when an arm's-length collective bargaining agreement covers the job.
• Recency: A published survey must be the most current edition, published within 24 months of the request, using data collected within 24 months of publication. An employer-conducted survey must use data gathered within 24 months of submission.
• Geographic match: Data must cover normal commuting distance (such as the MSA), though Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (CMSAs) do not automatically qualify as one commuting area.
• Cross-industry sample size: The survey must collect pay data across industries employing that occupation and include usable responses from at least 3 employers and at least 30 workers.
• Central tendency math: The survey must calculate the arithmetic mean (weighted average) for similarly employed workers. Only if a survey provides no mean may the median wage be used.

Guaranteed pay, benching rules, LCA filing, and enforcement

Before submitting Form I-129 to USCIS, your employer must file Form ETA-9035E electronically in the FLAG system (mail filing on Form ETA-9035 requires prior permission from the OFLC Administrator for lack of internet access or physical disability). An LCA cannot be submitted more than 6 months before the employment start date, and the Department of Labor reviews it within 7 working days for completeness and obvious errors.

On the LCA, the employer attests to four binding labor rules: paying at least the higher of the actual or prevailing wage, protecting the working conditions of similarly employed staff, confirming there is no strike or lockout, and notifying the union representative or posting workplace notice.

Department of Labor Fact Sheet #62G prohibits unpaid benching. Whether you are paid hourly or on an annual salary, your employer must pay at least the guaranteed minimum hours reported in Item 5 of Form I-129 for every pay period. That obligation holds even when the company has no project or client tasks for you, unless you are unavailable for personal reasons like voluntary unpaid leave. Guaranteed pay must start when you begin work, and no later than 30 days after you enter the United States on your visa, or within 60 days of work authorization if you are already inside the country.

Changing employment terms with the same employer or transferring to a new H-1B sponsor requires filing a new non-frivolous Form I-129 backed by a valid certified LCA. Both USCIS and the Department of Labor enforce wage attestations aggressively. Registrants sign cap submissions under penalty of perjury certifying a bona fide job offer at or above the selected OEWS wage level, and USCIS can deny or revoke petitions and refer false attestations to federal law enforcement. On September 19, 2025, the Department of Labor also launched Project Firewall to investigate H-1B wage and hiring abuses. The Wage and Hour Division can order full back-wage recovery, debar violators from sponsoring visas, and subject willful violators to random investigations for up to 5 years.

Pre-filing checklist and what consular officers check at your H-1B interview

Work through this 5-step verification plan written by our team before filing or interviewing:

• Save dated OEWS screenshots at registration: USCIS requires cap petitioners to submit evidence supporting the selected wage level on the date the registration was submitted. Keep the dated FLAG Wage Search printout showing the 6-digit SOC code, county, and Level I to IV thresholds.
• Check multi-site and remote locations early: List every home office, headquarters desk, and third-party client site before registration closes. Confirm the registration uses the lowest OEWS level met across all worksites.
• Verify the lowest figure in any salary range: If your offer letter or LCA lists a salary range, confirm the bottom number of that range meets both the required LCA wage and the OEWS tier claimed on your cap registration.
• Match 6-digit and 8-digit SOC codes: Check that the 6-digit SOC code on your registration and Form I-129 matches the first 6 digits of the O*NET-SOC code on your certified Form ETA-9035.
• Review your certified LCA before your embassy interview: Read the job title, SOC code, wage rate, full-time or part-time hours, and worksite addresses on Form ETA-9035 so nothing catches you off guard at the consular window.

Practice example

What will your salary and day-to-day responsibilities be in this H-1B role, and where will you work?

State your exact annual or hourly base salary, your job title, and the physical city and state where you will work, matching Form I-129 and your certified Form ETA-9035 Labor Condition Application. Describe two or three core duties in plain English so the consular officer can hear how your day-to-day work aligns with the specialty occupation and the wage level on your petition. If your wage level reflects entry-level work at Level I, describe the supervision and review structure honestly rather than exaggerating your seniority. If your petition reflects Level III or Level IV, mention the specialized technical judgment, complex problem-solving, or staff coordination your employer requires. Keep your Form I-797 approval notice, a copy of the certified LCA, your Form I-129 support letter, and recent pay stubs if you already work for the petitioner ready in your folder so you can hand them over immediately if asked.

Under USCIS and Department of Labor rules, H-1B eligibility requires a bona fide specialty occupation offer paid at or above the required wage for the occupation and worksite listed on Form I-129 and Form ETA-9035. Keeping your stated pay, duties, worksite, and supervision level aligned with those filings shows how your role fits the certified wage tier.

This is interview practice, not legal advice. For questions about your own case, talk to an immigration attorney. Visaful is not affiliated with the U.S. government or the Department of State.