AIUI, there’s two separate things happening here. You can ask for “X”, with an inability to find “X” leading to permission to sponsor. But there’s also nothin

AIUI, there’s two separate things happening here. You can ask for “X”, with an inability to find “X” leading to permission to sponsor. But there’s also nothing saying that your visa candidate actually has to have “X”. If they have “X/2”, then they only need to pay the prevailing wage for “X/2”. Or, to ctrl c/v from Wikipedia, the former is the labor certification and the latter is the labor condition application (LCA). In the US, your employer is required to post LCAs in a public location at the job site. It’s always a good idea to watch those, especially if you’ve been in your position for a while. This is the amount of money you should be getting (at a minimum).