Prevailing wages paid at I-485 approval?


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Is it correct that employer has to pay Prevailing Wages (or more) only after I-485 approval and till then only needs to show ability to pay and can pay lower wages till I-485? Is this also true if employee's current job title is same as the job title for which GC is being applied?

If above is correct then, yy current wage is 22% lower than PWD, should we go ahead with PERM filing as by the time I485 is approved (many years from now) i would be making more than the prevailing wages ? Or should i apply for another prevailing wage determination ? It takes 4 month appx these days for prevailing wage determination and i am in my 5th year of H1B and running out of time. Mine is being files in EB2  category.

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The wages at the time of I-485 approval have to be the higher of the then prevailing wages or what is listed on the PERM.

Just taking what is on the PERM now and paying that years down the road, when it is below the prevailing wage is not going to work.

The question is, if the employer has the means to pay the prevailing wage, why isn't he doing it now? 22% below is a rather big gap, and indicates something may be fishy.

And btw, you are not applying for a prevailing wage determination. The employer handles and pays for all aspects regarding the PERM.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/24/2017 at 10:26 AM, JoeF said:

The wages at the time of I-485 approval have to be the higher of the then prevailing wages or what is listed on the PERM.

Just taking what is on the PERM now and paying that years down the road, when it is below the prevailing wage is not going to work.

The question is, if the employer has the means to pay the prevailing wage, why isn't he doing it now? 22% below is a rather big gap, and indicates something may be fishy.

And btw, you are not applying for a prevailing wage determination. The employer handles and pays for all aspects regarding the PERM.

Thanks for your detailed response and my bad for not being able to respond earlier.

 

The employer has the ability to pay the prevailing wages, but still paying me lower because every one in the organization is making the same or lower. At my level in the organization i am getting the maximum in my salary bracket. One reason why every one might be getting paid lower in my organization in because we are located 40 miles away from a major IT hub, where salaries are much higher, and DOL clubs our county and the other county as  one area and has common salaries for both. Although where we are located, our salaries are actually at par or higher than average. In this attempt my employer did submit the private survey to DOL to demonstrate that, but DOL rejected it.

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So, what would happen if the I-485 gets approved earlier than expected?

That's not theoretical, it has happened in 2007, when for a month everything was current.

Essentially, you are telling us that the employer would not pay the prevailing wage, because of the particular pay structure in the company. That's a recipe for a denial.

 

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17 hours ago, JoeF said:

So, what would happen if the I-485 gets approved earlier than expected?

That's not theoretical, it has happened in 2007, when for a month everything was current.

Essentially, you are telling us that the employer would not pay the prevailing wage, because of the particular pay structure in the company. That's a recipe for a denial.

 

You are right, Priority dates can become current any time. But that would not force the employee to file for I-485. I can choose not to. I know you might think that it does not make sense, but given that its my 5th year of H1B, my options are either to stick to the employer and go ahead with this filing or if i change employers, i would not have enough time left and would have to leave US and go back to my country.

I would prefer to file for PERM now and then deal with I-485 situation as and when it arrives.

Your inputs/thoughts on this would be appreciated.

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