RFE for lower amount on the LCA

[Rational1]

Hi All,

I have received an RFE because the amount stated on the LCA is x and I made almost twice as much last year. Before filing for h1b my extension this year in jan, my employer got the LCA approved for x amount again. The RFE is asking why wasn't this higher wage reported to DOL on the new LCA. My employer said this can be justified because they have stated that they will pay atleast x amount to me and since it is higher it can be justified.

Your thoughts?

[JoeF]

If the salary is a lot more, the suspicion may be that you don't work in the job specified in the LCA.

Prevailing wage means that it is the wage generally paid by the industry for jobs of that kind. It is rare that the actual salary is twice as high, so it raises the suspicion that the LCA wage was artificially low because of a wrong job description.

[rahul412]

Hi All,

I have received an RFE because the amount stated on the LCA is x and I made almost twice as much last year. Before filing for h1b my extension this year in jan, my employer got the LCA approved for x amount again. The RFE is asking why wasn't this higher wage reported to DOL on the new LCA. My employer said this can be justified because they have stated that they will pay atleast x amount to me and since it is higher it can be justified.

Your thoughts?

I guess is USCIS is asking why are you getting paid more??

 

In other words, you are eligible for higher salary and that needs to reflected on LCA too.

[Rational1]

Okay fair enough.

I have been with the same employer from last h1 and they did state about 20k higher than what was on the previous LCA 3 years back. The salary drastically increased because we managed to eliminate 2 vendors in between over the course of 4 years with this client and now its an EC model. I am still doing the same job i used to.

What are the options for my employer when he responds to the RFE? Are there any chances of denial because of a higher pay than the LCA? I understand we cannot do anything with the LCA while the petition is in process.

 

Appreciate you valuable advice.

[Rational1]

Just wanted to give an update so that it might help people in similar boat in future.

 

Got my RFE cleared last week. My employer hired an attorney and responded to the RFE. Not sure what the content of the response was though. So bottom line, getting paid more than the LCA amount should/may not lead to denials.