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IMMIGRATION MARCH 27, 2026 | The Indian Eye 41

DOL prevailing wage guidance, an Additional complexities can wage in the Prevailing Wage Deter- is required to project the require-
entry level employee on first brush arise once the employer begins the mination. ments and salary for a role to be
may qualify under level I wage or PERM labor certification process Although there could appear performed many years in the fu-
level II wage rather than Level IV on behalf of an employee currently to be an inconsistency between the ture, it is not inherently problemat-
wage. The employer, on the other in H-1B status. An employer might H-1B and PERM wage levels, the ic for an employer’s requirements,
hand, may be able to justify a level be offering an employee a level I or role described in the PERM is a and, therefore, the corresponding
IV wage even if an employee has no II wage for the present H-1B posi- future role. For beneficiaries from wage level, to be substantially high-
prior or little experience based on an tion, but could have higher require- backlogged countries like India and er for a PERM position than for the
advanced degree and possessing oth- ments for the PERM and I-140 po- China, this position may only mate- present H-1B role.
er specialized skills, qualifications sition. For a PERM position that rialize after 10 years or more when
and certifications/licenses that are requires a bachelor’s degree and 5 they become eligible for adjustment *Kaitlyn Box is a Partner at Cyrus D.
essential for performing the duties of years of experience, however, the of status. Mehta & Partners PLLC.
the position. DOL is likely to assign a level IV Thus, because the employer
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The level IV wage can further Cyrus D. Mehta, a graduate of Cambridge University and Columbia Law School, is the Managing Partner of Cyrus D. Mehta
be justified based on the ac- & Partners PLLC in New York City. Mr. Mehta is a member of AILA’s Administrative Litigation Task Force; AILA’s EB-5 Com-
tual wage that is paid to sim- mittee; former chair of AILA’s Ethics Committee; special counsel on immigration matters to the Departmental Disciplinary

ilarly situated workers. Under Committee, Appellate Division, First Department, New York; member of the ABA Commission on Immigration; board member
DOL rule, the employer must of Volunteers for Legal Services and board member of New York Immigration Coalition. Mr. Mehta is the former chair of the
pay the higher of the prevail- Board of Trustees of the American Immigration Council and former chair of the Committee on Immigration and Nationality

ing or actual wage. So even if Law of the New York City Bar Association. He is a frequent speaker and writer on various immigration-related issues, including
the prevailing wage would be on ethics, and is also an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, where he teaches a course entitled Immigration and
Work. Mr. Mehta received the AILA 2018 Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award for advancing the practice of immigration law
a level 1 wage but the actual and the AILA 2011 Michael Maggio Memorial Award for his outstanding efforts in providing pro bono representation in the
wage is at level 4 wage, the immigration field. He has also received two AILA Presidential Commendations in 2010 and 2016. Mr. Mehta is ranked among

employer must pay the higher the most highly regarded lawyers in North America by Who’s Who Legal – Corporate Immigration Law 2019 and is also ranked
level 4 wage. in Chambers USA and Chambers Global 2019 in immigration law, among other rankings.

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