visits to companies confirming their H-1B employees are in fact employed there. These FNDS inspections entail requests to see the H-1B employee’s workstation, confirmation those employees are being paid their required wages, and fact gathering to see if the H-1B work locations are truly their work locations. With these increased site visits, we recommend companies have similar action plans for ICE visits as they do with FDNS visits. This includes having a point person to contact when the reception area is visited by FDNS, knowing what and what not to say, and coordinating with the FDNS officer/contractor regarding appropriate times to make the visit. Also, if an H-1B employer has changed addresses, then that information should be noted to USCIS to assure there is no mistake when an FDNS goes to the wrong address finding no H-1B sponsored company there. 2. Impact of Federal Government Layoffs With mass federal government layoffs affecting almost every federal government agency, we may see a trickle-down effect impacting future immigration sponsorships. This may include two agencies that impact immigration employment sponsorship. • USCIS is a fee driven agency that may not be as heavily impacted by the federal government layoffs – but it is not totally immune. Should USCIS implement layoffs, then you can expect longer adjudication times for work authorization sponsorships such as H-1B, L-1, and O-1 visas, all highly skilled professional sponsorships leveraged by the high-tech sector. • Cuts within the US Department of Labor (DOL) , which oversees the PERM Labor Certification process that leads to permanent residency sponsorships (i.e. “green cards”) is another agency that can impact the high-tech sector. The PERM Labor Certification process tests the local labor market to confirm no qualified individuals can be found to fulfill a role that the US employer already has with the foreign national worker it currently employs and possesses such qualifications. Unlike USCIS, the DOL is not fee-generated when it processes the PERM Labor Certifications. With the current may layoffs within the federal government, we can foresee backlogs at the DOL when processing PERM Labor Certification applications. That may cause a domino effect negatively impacting extending work authorizations for foreign national employees. Two more areas the DOL manages is the Prevailing Wage Determination applications, which are prerequisite to applying for the PERM Labor Certifications and the Labor Condition Applications (LCA) that lead to H-1B sponsorship. Both, too, could be negatively impacted with slower processing times should the DOL be hit hard by federal government layoffs. We will continue to monitor this situation and advise as we see recent changes and updates. 3. Increased Scrutiny and Vetting Causing Adjudication Slowdowns Under the Trump 1.0 administration, we saw increased vetting of all employment-based immigration sponsorship. This included USCIS’s directive to review all petitions as new cases– including those
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