USCIS Doing Site Visits of H-1B Employers
USCIS has received significant funding for a substantially increased volume of random site visits to employer locations. Over the coming year, many thousands more employers will have USCIS knocking on their doors.
The FDNS (Fraud Detection and National Security Unit) of USCIS is expanding its manpower and its site visits to employers that hire foreign nationals. Sometimes the employer is called in advance – and sometimes they are unannounced visits. Also, many of these site visits can occur after the petition is approved.
FDNS visits are to verify the existence of the employer, discuss the information that the employer has provided to USCIS in their petition(s) and whether the foreign national(s) are working in compliance with the terms of their admission to the USA. This information can also be used to determine whether or not a petition will be approved. Typically, the FDNS officer will wish to speak with the HR representative, may want to also speak with the sponsored worker; the officer could have a copy of the petition and will endeavor to verify the information contained in the petition.
What’s the “take away” on this for employers: It is important that you contact your designated immigration professional should you receive notification of a site visit… AND… make sure that you are working with well-informed immigration counsel that have experience in employer compliance issues. Immigration Solutions does, and we link to our Employer Compliance page on our website.
We link to one employer’s experience (as posted on AILA Infonet).
Tags: FDNS, H-1B, I-9/E-Verify News, Immigration News, USCIS, USCIS SITE VISITS, Worksite Enforcement