Global Mobility & Immigration Law

By: Frida P. Glucoft and Janice K. Luo
Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP (Los Angeles, California, USA)

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has increased its antifraud staff with contractor inspectors to perform thousands of on-site visits to U.S. companies

that employ H-1B and L-1 foreign workers.  These on-site inspections illustrate the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s new attitude and enforcement efforts focusing on employer prosecution for noncompliance with U.S. immigration laws.  These visits are performed by the USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) unit funded by the mandatory antifraud fee of $500 that U.S. Employers must pay the USCIS when filing H-1B and L-1 visa petitions for temporary foreign workers.  These ongoing USCIS visits to H-1B and L-1 employer sites occur regardless of whether the employers are large well-known corporations and nonprofit institutions or smaller companies.  It is important that U.S. employers understand and prepare for these unannounced visits. Click here to read entire article.