H-1B Employers And Increasing Site Inspections

The USCIS’s Office of Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) recently reviewed the H-1B program. FDNS may conduct unannounced physical site inspections of residences and places of employment and hold interviews.The visits may occur at the principal place of business and/or at the H-1B non immigrant work location as indicated on the 1-29 petition. USCIS may use a variety of ways to verify namely- review public records and information by written correspondence, Internet, facsimile or other electronic transmission, or telephone. Although most H-1B site visits have occurred post adjudication, a USCIS adjudications officer may refer an H1-B petition to the FDNS for a site visit prior to the completion of an adjudication. This may be especially true with H1-B extensions with the same H-1B employer. The USCIS Vermont Service Center has transferred approximately 20,000 cases to FDNS as part of the H-1B assessment program USCIS California Service Center has also forwarded a sizable number of cases for review. Hence the visits by the FDNS officers may increase.

Some general guidelines for the employers who are employing H-1B employees:

• Employers should request the name, title and contact information for the site investigator, as there are multiple agencies that may audit H-1B program.
• The employer may request the presence of the attorney. If the attorney is not immediately available the site inspection must be terminated.
• The employers should not speak with the government agents or contractors without a witness.
• Employers should retain complete records of public access file. It should be reviewed prior to meeting with the FDNS officer.
• If the beneficiary has been placed at a client site not controlled by the employer, the employer should notify the end user about the current H-1B assessment program and the possibility of a site visit.
• The end user should be made aware of the identity of the H-1B employer and review the terms of the agreement.
• Generally the employer/or the end user should comply with the reasonable requests of the FDNS officer.However, if the FDNS officer requests to access secure areas, an employer may suggest less sensitive areas to conduct interviews with the beneficiary.The employer should explain if it has strict policies against tours and photographs of the sensitive areas.
• The employer should not guess about any information and should indicate to the FDNS officer that he will follow up to provide accurate information.
• The record should be kept of any documentation provided to the FDNS officer during the site visit.