Data / Federal rules / 2026-06017
Improving Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Foreign Nationals in the United States
The Employment and Training Administration published this proposed rule in the Federal Register on March 27, 2026. Comments closed on May 26, 2026.
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What the agency says
The Department of Labor (DOL or the Department) is issuing this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to solicit comments and public input regarding its proposal to revise Employment and Training Administration (ETA) regulations governing the prevailing wages for employment opportunities that United States (U.S.) employers seek to fill with alien workers on a permanent or temporary basis through certain EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based immigrant visas via the Permanent Labor Certification (PERM) program or through H-1B, H-1B1, or E-3 nonimmigrant visas. Specifically, DOL is proposing to amend its regulations governing the PERM program and Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) to incorporate changes to the computation of wage levels under the Department's four-tiered prevailing wage structure based on the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) wage survey administered by the Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These proposed revisions aim to better align prevailing wage levels with the wages paid to U.S. workers who are similarly employed in the occupation and area of intended employment. The Department's proposed revisions also seek to strengthen program integrity by reducing the incentive for employers to use these programs to replace, rather than supplement, U.S. workers by employing lower-paid alien workers. In addition, the revision would enable the Department to more effectively ensure that the employment of immigrant and nonimmigrant workers admitted or otherwise provided one of the covered statuses does not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of U.S. workers.
Key facts
- Document number
- 2026-06017
- Type
- Proposed rule
- Action
- Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM)
- Agency
- Labor Department; Employment and Training Administration
- Published
- March 27, 2026
- Comments due
- May 26, 2026
- Dates
- Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on this proposed rule on or before May 26, 2026.
- Docket
- DOL Docket No. ETA-2026-0001
- Regulation ID (RIN)
- 1205-AC30
- Code of Federal Regulations
- 20 CFR 655; 20 CFR 656
- Topics
- Administrative practice and procedure; Australia; Chile; Employment; Immigration; Wages
- Pages
- 48
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| Adverse Effect Wage Rate Methodology for the Temporary Employment of H-2A Nonimmigrants in Non-Range Occupations in the United States 2025-19365 · significant | Final rule | Oct 2, 2025 |
| Rescission of Workforce Investment Act Regulations 2025-16771 | Final rule | Sep 2, 2025 |
Everything from the Employment and Training Administration · Rules on administrative practice and procedure · Rules on employment · Rules on immigration · Published in March 2026
Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-24. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.