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Where to get salary data for the criterion

Key answer

Members combine several sources: a paid certificate from a major job site (in English, with a breakdown by salary level and the share of vacancies), open international salary reviews by country and profession, and Rosstat indices from the statistics site. Official statistics alone proved insufficient - the officer wants data for the specific position, so people added job-site figures and built their own multi-year analysis, taking the highest value.

Community answers

The answers below are translated from the original Russian - the language of the community chats.

  • First, look at international salary review sites: they have readily available reviews by country and profession through search. There's also a site with Rosstat indexes where you can find salary metrics by sector and position. However, the data is fragmented, so I conducted analysis using statistical reports from the Rosstat website and supplemented it with a calculated approximation based on several years of data. In the end, I took the highest value.

  • Send a request for such a reference to a major job listing site, they will send you a sample. Such a reference is paid and provided in English. Request that the reference includes a breakdown of salaries and the percentage of vacancies for each salary range, and a brief description of your position with responsibilities, if possible.

  • I submitted information from city statistics, but the officer found it insufficient. I had to obtain more from job listing sites. Going through my experience, I understand that I shouldn't have bothered with data from Rosstat or city statistics, but should have immediately gathered data related to the position.

  • The more accurate the salary data, the better. The broader the sample by region and position, the worse: they will state that you provided vague and average figures when scaling up. Officers evaluate individuals working outside the U.S. based on salary statistics or comparable data for the actual workplace. If a person works for a Moscow company, salaries should be compared with Moscow salaries for that profession.

The answers are anonymized community experience from the public chats, not legal advice. Officers may decide similar cases differently.

Why "High remuneration" gets refused

Accepted in 14% of challenged petitions (23 of 160); not an approval rate.

The comparison source is not accepted: it needs occupation- and location-matched data, not general market surveys.

All refusal grounds and the sample

Sources

All questions on: Salary and incomeAll questions on: EB-1AAll questions on: O-1 visaAll questions on: The petition and formatting

Related on this site

Similar questions

A reference page built from community experience, not legal advice. Requirements and practice change - verify on uscis.gov.

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