Employer Site Visits to Increase by FDNS
It has been reported that some 20,000 more unannounced employer site visits will be taking place over the next few months by FDNS, but this time it will be to employers who have filed H-1B extensions to determine if there is ongoing compliance by the employer.
It’s been asked, do they have the legal right to do this – just show up and demand to speak with a company’s representative or executive officer? Yes, they do, although it hasn’t been acted upon to the extent we are now observing until your $500 Fraud Detection and Prevention government filing fee created the revenue to employ some 6,500 FDNS agents. Up until now, USCIS or DOL agents have always been in a position to do onsite employer visits when they thought necessary – but it’s been rarely acted upon. Presently, you can add ICE and FDNS to this group – because we’re in a hunt ‘em down, enforcement climate – and it’s the employers who are being targeted.
So, how does an employer handle this? We don’t recommend that you wait to ask this question and to get your documentation organized when the agent comes knocking. This is serious business now, and they are not just targeting the small to medium-size employer or the employer who has financial issues and can’t respond to requests to prove the ability to pay the offered wage to the employee.
Therefore, it is recommended that you discuss this with your immigration counsel now. If you don’t have a representative, we are available to walk you through a program that will not only assist you in organizing your Public Access information and files, but we will give you the tools to prepare the company representative that will handle the agent site visit and to prepare them for the questions that will be asked, what documentation should be organized now and beeasily accessible to present to the agent when requested – and overall, how to successfully respond to a government site visit at your place of employment.
Tags: Department Of Homeland Security (DHS), DOL, E-Verify, Employer Compliance, Employer Site Visits, FDNS, H-1B, ICE, Immigration Solutions, SSA No-Match, USCIS, Worksite Enforcement