It’s a little known fact that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) won’t approve an employment-based visa petition before checking the company information against the Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) database via the Validation Instrument for Business Enterprises (VIBE) system.  If any company information on the petition is not an exact match with D&B, USCIS will issue a Request for Evidence (RFE) regarding the discrepancy, which will delay the approval.  Many employers are not aware of this reliance by USCIS on D&B or don’t realize the level of detail checked by USCIS.  Even if a company changes office suite numbers or floors in the same building, the petition will likely receive an RFE.  Companies seeking approval of an L-1 intracompany transferee visa should make sure the D&B database properly lists all related companies overseas.

Accordingly, before filing a visa petition on behalf of an employee, employers should update D&B with their most up-to-date company information and ensure that there is a perfect match between the information in the petition and the D&B database.  This will take them one step closer to have their visa petitions approved in a timely fashion.