Bill could raise costs on 1 in 8 H‑1B filings

Under current law, “H-1B-dependent” employers, whose workforces include a high share of H-1B workers, must promise extra protections for U.S. workers, including trying to hire Americans first.

Those rules don’t apply if the H-1B worker earns at least $60,000 a year or holds a master’s degree related to the job. New matching bills from Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, and Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Wis., would more than double that threshold to about $145,600.

For companies that rely on H-1B workers, this could mean higher costs and slower hiring. About one in eight H-1B filings certified from October 2025 through June 2026 could lose the exemption, a Manifest Law analysis of Labor Department data found.

“This new bill would narrow the exemption from H-1B dependency and increase the financial implications of hiring H-1Bs,” said Jeff Joseph, President of Immigration Strategy at Manifest Law and the 79th President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “The downstream impact will certainly fall on the tech industry, but will also disproportionately harm small employers, start-ups, and non-profits that rely on H1B workers.”

Bill would more than double H-1B salary cutoff

The bill would affect H-1B dependent employers. For companies with 51 or more employees, that means at least 15% of the workforce holds H-1B status. Small companies face different thresholds.

These employers must make three promises to the Labor Department:

1. They won’t lay off U.S. workers in similar jobs within 90 days before or after an H-1B filing.
2. Before placing an H-1B worker with a client, they will check that the client hasn’t laid off U.S. workers in similar jobs.
3. They will recruit U.S. workers first and offer the job to any U.S. applicant who is equally or better qualified.

These promises don’t apply to exempt workers. A worker is exempt if they earn at least $60,000 a year or hold a master’s degree in a field related to the job.

The bill would raise the $60,000 salary cutoff to twice the Social Security Administration’s national average wage index. At the 2025 index (the latest one), that would be about $145,600.

“For decades, companies have been able to sidestep hiring American workers because of a salary threshold that hasn’t budged since 1998,” Husted said in a statement.

Tech jobs make up most affected filings

Nationally, 49,587 of the 392,175 H-1B filings the Labor Department certified from October 2025 through June 2026 could lose the exemption under the bill. The true number could be lower since some of these workers may hold a related master’s degree.

Most of the affected jobs are in tech. About 91% of the filings that could lose the exemption came from IT services and computer systems design firms, mostly for software developers, systems engineers, and programmers. These firms make about 31% of total certified H-1B filings.

Median pay for these roles was $106,454, well above today’s $60,000 cutoff, but well below the proposed cutoff in the bill.

There would be an outsize impact in Husted’s state of Ohio. At Ohio worksites, 1,756 of 8,061 certified H-1B filings, or 21.8%, could lose the exemption. That’s close to double the national rate.

Most of these workers aren’t employed by Ohio companies. About 82% of the Ohio filings came from employers based in other states.

Large IT outsourcing firms led the list, including Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant, Capgemini, and Infosys. These firms often place their workers at client companies.

Those four firms also filed about one in four of the affected filings nationwide.

Grothman’s Wisconsin has less at stake. There, 414 of 2,820 certified filings, or 14.7%, could lose the exemption. Employers based outside Wisconsin filed 95% of them, led by Infosys and Cognizant.

Bill adds pressure on IT outsourcers

If the bill passed, dependent employers would have three choices for workers who lose the exemption:

1. They could raise pay above the new cutoff.
2. If the worker has a related master's degree, they could qualify for the exemption that way.
3. Or they could follow the three promises and conduct the recruiting required by law.

Option three would require employers to advertise jobs, consider U.S. applicants, and keep records showing that they did.

There is already growing pressure on H-1B dependent employers. A Sept. 18 executive order told agencies to weigh layoffs when reviewing H-1B applications.

On Oct. 8, the Labor Department suspended eight companies from PERM, the labor certification step many H-1B workers need to get a Green Card. Six are among the world’s largest IT outsourcing firms, including Cognizant, Tata, Infosys, and Capgemini, and are heavily reliant on H-1B visas.

“H-1Bs have already been under a microscope in this administration and we have seen several proposals to make the chances of being selected in the H1B lottery dependent on the wages paid,” Joseph said. “We have also seen proclamations and proposed rules to make the filing fees alone over $100,000 for participation.”

Election clouds bill’s future

Neither bill has moved past committee in the House or Senate.

The House is out until after the Nov. 3 midterm elections, when Husted faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, in a special election for the Ohio seat Husted was appointed to in 2025.

Any bill that doesn’t become law by Jan. 3, 2027, when the 119th Congress ends, dies. It would have to be reintroduced in a new session of Congress.

A similar effort has stalled before. In 2017, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill from Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., that would have raised the cutoff to $100,000. It never received a floor vote.

How we analyzed the data

Manifest Law reviewed H-1B filings the Labor Department certified from Oct. 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026. We counted filings from H-1B dependent employers and willful violators that claimed the exemption by salary alone and paid under $145,600 a year. Counts reflect filings, not workers. Some employers were able to keep the exemption through a worker’s master’s degree.

Disclaimer. This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading it, or contacting Manifest Law through this site, does not create an attorney-client relationship. Immigration law changes frequently, and the information here is current only as of the publication date. For advice on your specific situation, consult a licensed attorney. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This communication is attorney advertising.