a master's or higher degree or its equivalent in a specialty related to the intended employment. Equivalent foreign degrees are allowed. All currently employed H-1B employees count toward the number of H-1B employees when used to determine H-1B-dependence, regardless of whether they were themselves exempted from the attestations. Exemption based on compensation For exemption based on compensation, only salary and cash bonuses can be counted towards compensation. Non-cash benefits (such as stock) cannot be included. This criterion differs somewhat from the conditions of the attestation on wages needed for all LCAs. The wage attestation in the LCA says that the wage paid to the worker is greater than or equal to both the prevailing wage for that occupation and area of intended employment, and to the actual wage paid to other workers at the company. In many cases (such as highly skilled professions and/or jobs in expensive urban areas) the minimum annual compensation needed to satisfy these attestations is in excess of $60,000. However, this is not always the case. The exemption threshold of $60,000 is not automatically adjusted for inflation and has not been changed since the rule was introduced. Exemption based on educational qualifications The educational criterion is intermediate between two other educational criteria used in the context of H-1B petitions: It is stricter than the educational criterion used to establish that one is a skilled worker in the Form I-129 petition for H-1B status. That petition allows for the use of work experience in lieu of educational credentials, whereas a nonimmigrant can be exempted only in the presence of an actual master's degree. It is weaker than the criterion used to determine eligibility for the 20,000 cap-exempt slots every fiscal year. Those cap-exempt slots are available only to people who acquired master's degree at United States universities, whereas a nonimmigrant can be exempted based on a master's degree from a United States university or foreign university. DOL uses guidelines published by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers to determine degree equivalency. Note that the DOL regulation does not have a direct bearing on how USCIS evaluates degree equivalency when evaluating Form I-129 petitions based on an approved LCA. Attestations needed The following attestations are needed for LCAs filed by a H-1B-dependent employer filing for a non-exempt H-1B nonimmigrant. Even though H-1B-dependence is a global designation applied to the company, the assertion made by the