In comments submitted May 26, 2026, to the Department of Labor (DOL) on its proposed rule, “Improving Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Foreign Nationals,” LeadingAge raised concerns that the changes could significantly increase wage requirements and limit long-term care providers’ ability to use international recruitment pathways, creating practical challenges for the sector.
The proposal would revise how DOL calculates prevailing wages for employment-based visa programs, including the EB‑3 pathway widely used in aging services, by shifting its four wage tiers to higher percentiles of federal wage data to better align pay for foreign workers with that of similarly situated U.S. workers.
While supporting the goal of fair wages, LeadingAge explains that the underlying data used for prevailing wage determinations does not adequately distinguish between care settings, such as hospitals and long-term care, which operate under very different financial constraints. They note that, if finalized as proposed, the rule could significantly increase wage requirements in ways that may limit long-term care providers’ ability to access international recruitment pathways.
Read full comments here.
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