Our Data Sources

Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration

All data on PlainVisa comes from the DOL ETA Foreign Labor Certification Performance Data, which is the official quarterly disclosure of Labor Condition Application (LCA) filings. Every employer that sponsors an H-1B worker must file an LCA with the DOL, disclosing the job title, offered salary, work location, prevailing wage determination, and employer information.

LCA filings are public records, the DOL is required to make this data available. Unlike self-reported salary databases, LCA data represents legal attestations by employers that are subject to government audit. This makes the salary and compensation data among the most reliable publicly available sources for specific employer-occupation-location combinations.

DOL ETA Foreign Labor Certification Performance Data.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), OEWS

Prevailing wage determinations in LCA filings are based on BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) data. The OEWS survey covers approximately 1.1 million establishments semi-annually, producing wage estimates by occupation and geographic area. PlainVisa uses SOC occupation codes from the OEWS to categorize and compare filings.

How We Process the Data

We download quarterly DOL disclosure files and process them through the following steps:

• Parsing and normalization: DOL disclosure files are released as large CSV files with varying formats across fiscal years. We parse each quarterly file, normalize field names and data types, and harmonize schema differences between fiscal years to enable cross-year trend analysis.
• Employer name normalization: The same employer may appear under slightly different names across filings (e.g., "Google LLC" vs "Google Inc" vs "GOOGLE LLC"). We apply fuzzy matching and canonical name mapping to consolidate filings under a single employer entity, enabling accurate employer-level statistics.
• Geographic indexing: Each LCA includes the worksite city, state, and in many cases the CBSA (Core Based Statistical Area) code. We index filings by state, metro area, and city to enable geographic analysis and comparison. Metro-level data uses OMB-defined CBSAs for consistency.
• Occupation classification: LCA filings use SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) codes. We map these to human-readable occupation titles and group related occupations for browseable category pages.
• Salary analysis: For each employer-occupation-metro combination, we compute salary statistics including median, mean, and range. Wage level distributions (I-IV) are tracked to show how employers position their filings relative to prevailing wages.

Data Currency

PlainVisa currently displays LCA data spanning FY2023 through FY2026. The DOL publishes new disclosure data quarterly, typically within 2-3 months of the quarter end. We incorporate new quarterly data within 30 days of publication.

Note that LCA filing dates do not correspond to employment start dates. An LCA filed in Q1 of a fiscal year may support an H-1B petition for a start date months later, or the petition may be denied or withdrawn. LCA data reflects employer intent to sponsor, not confirmed employment.

Editorial Independence & How Content Is Produced

PlainVisa's employer, state, occupation, and metro pages are generated programmatically from official federal datasets, primarily the U.S. Department of Labor's OFLC Labor Condition Application disclosure files, with USCIS processing times and Department of State visa wait times where shown. The same templates render thousands of pages so that coverage is consistent, and every figure is computed from the source data rather than hand-typed. The editorial work goes into the data pipeline, how each source is loaded, normalized, joined, and computed, into the methodology, and into the written guides, not into hand-authoring thousands of near-identical data pages. PlainVisa, operating under PlainVisa, is responsible for these standards and for corrections; see our editorial & corrections policy.

We do not accept payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from applicants, petitioners, employers, or any covered entity. Our only revenue source is contextual display advertising served by Google AdSense, advertisers do not influence which entities we cover or how we present data, and they do not receive preferential placement.

Limitations & Disclaimers

PlainVisa is an informational resource. H-1B data should inform career research and salary benchmarking, but individual circumstances vary and LCA filings cannot substitute for immigration legal advice.

• LCA ≠ approved petition: An LCA filing does not confirm that an H-1B petition was approved or that a worker was hired. The LCA is filed before the H-1B petition and some filings never result in employment.
• Base salary only: LCA salaries represent base compensation. Bonuses, stock options, signing bonuses, and benefits are not captured in the filing. For many tech roles, total compensation can be 30-50% higher than the LCA salary.
• Employer name variations: Despite normalization, some employer name variations may not be fully consolidated. Very small employers with unique name spellings may appear as separate entities.
• Historical data scope: PlainVisa covers FY2023 forward. Earlier fiscal years are not included in the current database. Trends analysis is limited to this window.

PlainVisa is not affiliated with the Department of Labor, USCIS, or any government agency. This site does not provide immigration, legal, or employment advice. Always consult a qualified immigration attorney for visa-related decisions.

Contact

Questions, corrections, or feedback? Email us at hello@plainvisa.com.

We welcome:

• Questions about data sources or methodology
• Reports of employer name normalization errors
• Suggestions for additional data or features
• Media and research inquiries

PlainVisa is a data intelligence company that builds free, public-interest data portals. We transform complex government datasets into accessible, searchable resources for researchers, journalists, policymakers, and the public.