25000 H-1B Investigations Planned 11/18/09

Computerworld is reporting that US immigration officials are planning on conducting 25,000 on-site inspections of companies hiring foreign workers over this fiscal year. This plan marks a five-fold increase in the number of inspections conducted from last fiscal year, when the agency conducted only 5,191 site visits. This increase in inspections is indicative of the agency’s commitment to tougher enforcement, particularly after the release of an agency study last year that found one in five H-1B applications containing fraud and other violations. In a letter to Senator Grassley, USCIS director Mayorkas writes, “[The inspection program determines] whether the location of employment actually exists and if a beneficiary is employed at the location specified, performing the duties as described, and paid the salary as identified in the petition.” As part of their increased enforcement effort, Mayorkas said that the agency has hired Dun and Bradstreet Inc. to act as “an independent information provider,” and to help verify information submitted by H-1B petitioning companies. Overall, we at HLG have seen a marked increase in the number of site visits by USCIS representatives. This articles seems to indicate this trend is likely to continue. For full article see: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141047/Feds_plan_25_000_on_site_H_1B_inspections?taxonomyId=19