Across programs and over time · Wage year 2026-27

Amended petitions and material change

The question isn’t whether something about the job changed. It’s whether the change was material, and a move to a new area of intended employment usually is.

Read this firstThis is a computed reading of published federal data and published federal guidance, not legal advice. Only the Department of Labor issues prevailing wage determinations, and only the Department of Labor decides whether an obligation has been met. Where a rule below is our reading rather than a verbatim quotation, the text says so.

An approved petition describes a job. When the job stops matching the description, the regulations require the employer to file an amended petition. The operative word is material, and the argument in most real cases is about where that line sits.

The geographic rule

The clearest case is a move. Where the place of employment changes to a location outside the area of intended employment covered by the existing Labor Condition Application, that’s a material change: a new application is needed for the new area, and an amended petition has to be filed. That reading comes from Matter of Simeio Solutions, an administrative decision that has governed practice since it issued in 2015.

The rule bites because areas are county-based rather than city-based, and the boundaries aren’t intuitive. A move that feels local can cross an area line, and a move that feels distant can stay inside one. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ covers 22 counties across state lines. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA covers 2. Which side of the line an address falls on is decided by the geography file, and the mechanics are in Area of intended employment, and why the county matters more than the city.

The money involved isn’t marginal. Software Developers at Level II is $187,075 a year in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA and $116,896 in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX. An unamended move between areas of that kind is a wage exposure as well as a status problem.

Computed from ALC_Export.csv in OFLC_Wages_2026-27.zip, wage year 2026-27.

Changes generally treated as material

• A new worksite outside every area covered by the existing filing.
• A change in the occupation, or a change in duties substantial enough that the position is no longer the one described.
• A change from full-time to part-time, or from part-time to full-time.
• A change in the employing entity that’s not covered by the successor-in-interest provisions.

Changes generally not treated as material

• A move within an area already covered by the filing. Notice obligations still attach at the new site.
• A wage increase that keeps the position within the terms already certified.
• A change in job title with no substantive change in duties.
• A short-term placement that stays inside the limits and conditions of 20 CFR 655.735.

These lists are a reading, not a ruleThe two lists above summarise how the published rules and administrative decisions have been applied. They’re our reading, they compress conditions, and they aren’t a substitute for reading 8 CFR 214.2(h)(2)(i)(E) and the decisions interpreting it. Only the agencies decide whether a specific change was material.

Timing, and the wage that comes with it

The amended petition is filed before the change takes effect, not after it has settled in. A new Labor Condition Application means a fresh wage lookup, and the fresh lookup uses whichever wage year is in force at that moment, not the one the original filing used. If the amendment lands after 1 July, the tables have moved. That interaction is set out in The wage year calendar, and when the figures change.

The new figure can also land at a different level, because the level follows the requirements as they now stand. If the change was a promotion into supervision, or the addition of a license requirement, the level analysis in How the four wage levels are determined runs again from the top. And the new documentation joins the file described in What a public access file has to contain.

More in across programs and over time

• Multiple worksite locations on one filing. Per-site obligations, posting at each place, and the short-term placement allowance.
• H-1B versus H-1B1 versus E-3, and how the wage rules differ. One wage rule, three classifications, and a table of what actually differs.
• PERM prevailing wage, and how it differs from H-1B. The mandatory determination, the 100 per cent rule, and the timing difference that surprises people.
• Wage level and the H-1B lottery, including what changed and what didn’t. What’s settled about the cap and the wage obligation, and the selection question we won’t answer.

All 24 guides are indexed at Guides. Wage figures throughout are read from ALC_Export.csv, wage year 2026-27.