ANNOUNCEMENT 22 Feb 2018
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a new policy memo that requires employers to provide more information when seeking to hire foreign talent under the H-1B visa program, and the worker is employed at a third-party work site.
NUMBER OF INTERVENTIONS
1
On February 22, 2018·U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new policy memo that requires employers to provide more information when seeking to hire foreign talent under the H-1B visa program, and the worker is employed at a third-party work site. H-1B visas often used by tech companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers, such as computer programmers, engineers, architects, etc. The visas are good for three years and can be renewed for another three-year term. Designated as PM-602-0157, this USCIS policy memoramndum says that -
Based on the agency’s experience in administering the H-1B program, USCIS recognizes that significant employer violations—such as paying less than the required wage, benching employees (not paying workers the required wage while they wait for projects or work) and having employees perform non-specialty occupation jobs—may be more likely to occur when petitioners place employees at third-party worksites. Therefore, in order to protect the wages and working conditions of both U.S. and H-1B nonimmigrant workers and prevent fraud or abuse, USCIS policy should ensure that officers properly interpret and apply the statutory and regulatory requirements that apply to H-1B petitions involving third-party worksites.
The memorandum provides that when a beneficiary is to be placed at one or more third-party worksites, a petitioner “must demonstrate that it has specific and non-speculative qualifying assignments in a specialty occupation for the beneficiary for the entire time requested on the petition.” It must show that the petitioner “has a specific work assignment in place for the beneficiary,” is “properly supported by a Labor Condition Application (LCA) that corresponds to such work,” and that the “actual work to be performed by the H-1B beneficiary will be in a specialty occupation based on the work requirements imposed by the end-client who uses the beneficiary’s services.” It further stated that a petitioner may be able to demonstrate that the beneficiary has actual work assignment(s) in a specialty occupation by providing a combination of the following or similar types of evidence:
AFFECTED PRODUCTS