USCIS to Increase Site Visits for H-1B Beneficiaries
April 4, 2017
On April 3, 2017, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced new measures to deter and detect H-1B visa fraud and abuse by increasing the amount of unannounced worksite visits across the country.
USCIS will be conducting site visits, especially for companies:
Who cannot be validated by their basic public business information;
Who have a high amount of H-1B workers compared to U.S. workers; and
Whose H-1B employees are working off-site at another company or organization’s location.
Site visits will be focused to detect fraud and abuse of employers who are failing to make a good faith effort to hire U.S. workers. To further these efforts to detect fraud and abuse, USCIS created an email (REPORTH1BABUSE@USCIS.DHS.GOV) where anyone can report suspected abuse.
These new measures are heightened efforts from the 2009 measures implemented by USCIS and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). In the past, suspected fraud or abuse cases were referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for further investigation. Other past measures taken were through the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division’s Form WH-4 for reporting employer fraud and abuse.
If you have any questions about these new fraud and abuse measures for H-1B workers, or should your office receive a site visit and you need further assistance; please contact Attorney Nicole Fink.