The Trump administration has announced a final rule that will significantly raise the minimum wages employers in the US must pay to foreign workers on visa programmes such as the H-1B as part of the efforts to protect American workers from being undercut by cheap labour from abroad.

Days before the exit of the administration of President Donald Trump, the US department of labour said the final rule would help to protect the wages and job opportunities of American workers by reforming the wage methodology it uses to set wage rates to prevent potential abuses of its Permanent Employment Certification, H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 Visa foreign worker programmes.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries such as India and China.

The final rule will improve the accuracy of prevailing wages paid to foreign workers by bringing them in line with the wages paid to similarly employed US workers, the department of labour said in a news release on Tuesday.

The final rule will ensure the department more effectively protects the job opportunities and wages of American workers by removing the economic incentive to hire foreign workers on a permanent or temporary basis in the US over American workers, it said.