In a September 2011 audit report on the use of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) by H-1B temporary workers, the Office of Inspector General (OIC) claims that a substantial percentage of H-1B cases may involve some amount of irregularity or fraud. OIG based its review on a random sample of 200 H-1B cases from the 38,546 [...]
The American Immigration Lawyers' Association (AILA) has provided some guidance and information from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the Newark, New Jersey airport. Background Starting in December of 2009, our office has been receiving alerts from current and prospective clients about a number of incidents where holders of valid H-1B stamps were questioned and, [...]
The Neufeld Memorandum of January 8, 2010, has generated a substantial amount of discussion with its newly-proposed standard for "employer-employee" relationship applied to third-party H-1B employee placements, which are very common for consulting companies. Our office has handled many consultations and inquiries relating to the Neufeld Memorandum and what it means for the thousands of [...]
Over the past months we have written extensively about the issues raised by today’s Wall Street Journal article “Slump Sinks Visa Program” but it is still an interesting read. Most of our readers are aware of the current H-1B quota and the fact that a substantial number of H-1B visas still remain available (for comparison, [...]
We have reported of increased H-1B employer site visits as part of USCIS’ Administrative Site Visit Verification Program (ASVVP). Some of our clients have experienced such site visits and in this article we aim to describe the process and the kind of information sought by the site inspectors during each visit. Generally, site inspectors arrive unannounced [...]
Under a new directive marked as “Tier 1″ (high strategic importance and significant impact on one or more industries), the Internal Revenue Service (”IRS”) has indicated that it will be focusing increased resources on H-1B sponsor companies’ tax withholding and reporting. As our clients and readers know, the H-1B nonimmmigrant work visa is one of the [...]