The Labor Department has stepped up investigations into employers using the H-1B program to hire foreign workers and they are making site visits, asking the employers complicated, technical questions, Bloomberg reported, citing data that the DOL has marked a 48% increase in its caseload of H-1B investigations since it launched Project Firewall. This project was launched last year to ensure that the H-1B visa program is not abused and the rights, wages and job opportunities of US workers are protected.
The department is also taking AI help to find loopholes.
Immigration attorney Kevin Andrews said the investigating officials are not focusing on just drugs and thugs anymore, but they are looking for hyper-technical violations.
Another immigration attorney, Nandini Nair, told Bloomberg that some companies are receiving site visits every time they file a new H-1B petition. These officials generally ask for more information about the particular candidate for whom they filed the petition but then they ask for immigration and payroll records of all employees.
Answers given on the site are being compared against those given in the petitions, another attorney Brian Coughlin told Bloomberg. Any mismatch could raise red flags to the government, he said.
“No one can be prepared for it other than to understand that they shouldn’t just casually answer questions when it comes to minimum requirements or really anything else,” he said. “It’s better to slow it down and look at the filing that was submitted to make sure that the government’s getting the correct information and a consistent message.”
This year for the first time, the H-1B lottery was wage-based and not random. The USCIS has also altered its Form I-129 to ask employers questions about job requirements, including education, years of experience, technical skills, and supervisory roles.
The intense investigations come at a time when the H-1B visa program emerged as the most controversial visa program as it is a three-year work visa which can be renewed and can serve a pathway to a Green Card. American influencers have become vocal against the visa program, alleging that companies are laying off Americans as they can hire H-1Bs at a cheaper wage.
