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U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced plans to conduct 25,000 site visits this fiscal year in connection with H-1B petitions filed by U.S. employers. The purpose for the visits is to confirm that the information provided by the employer to USCIS in the H-1B petition is accurate and that the employee is working at the location specified and being paid the salary stated in the petition. The number of site visits is a five-fold increase from the previous fiscal year.
Employers should ensure that all of the information supplied to USCIS in connection with an H-1B petition is accurate and, if the employer is given advance notice of the visit, the employer should contact its legal counsel. The information obtained through site visits could be used as a basis to deny the petition or revoke previously approved petitions if the government finds the employer to have violated the basis on which the petition was approved. Furthermore, adverse information could also be shared with the enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and could expose the employer to possible civil and criminal penalties.
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