Thursday, September 22, 2011

SSA OIG REPORT FINDS H-1B VISA VIOLATORS

A recent report (September 2001) by the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) reviewed use of a social security number (SSN) by approximately 38,000 H-1B visa holders to whom SSA issued a number.
Based on the results of the OIG's review, they estimated that about 7,131 (18 percent) of the 38,546 H-1B workers to whom SSA assigned an SSN in 2007 may have used their SSNs for purposes other than to work for their approved employer. This estimate includes about 4,433 (11 percent) H-1B workers who had posted wages during their audit period from an employer other than their DHS-approved employer. This estimate also includes about 2,698 (7 percent) H-1B workers who had no posted wages from 2007 through 2009.
The writers of the report recommend that to enhance SSN integrity, SSA should contact DHS to establish a data match agreement to assist DHS’ efforts to identify and reduce the number of H-1B workers who are violating their status or using their SSNs for purposes other than to work for their approved employer.
I am not sure how they conducted these checks and whether they considered change of employer petitions that are very frequent that lead to H-1B portability (the ability to work for the new employer as soon as it files a new H-1B petition) but it's only the beginning of additional scrutiny by DHS of H-1B workers.

Friday, September 16, 2011

USCIS UPDATES 2012 H-1B COUNT ON 9/9/2011: AT 32,200

At just over 1,000 new H-1B petitions per week, USCIS just issued an H-1B cap update. As of 09/09/2011, USCIS has received approximately 32,200 petitions subject to the regular annual cap of 65,000 plus approximately 16,700 H-1B petitions subject to the advanced degree quota of 20,000.
As the advanced degree quota is nearly maxed out, and the regular quota is more than 50% subscribed, employers will start feeling pressure to file in the next few months before the quota is exhausted.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

DOL ON PREVAILING WAGE DETERMINATIONS FOR H-1B'S

The Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) issued a statement regarding delays in issuing prevailing wage determinations and H-1B Labor Condition Applications (LCAs).
The short version of the 2-page FAQ is that H-1B prevailing wages are still in backlog because of the H-2B litigation (same as PERM PWDs) and the DOL is recommending to employers to use alternate wage sources to obtain the prevailing wage for example from the OFLC online data center. However, this does not have the safe harbor provision if the employer used its own source rather than wait for the NPWC's determination.
The FAQ is available at: http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/pdf/PWD_FAQ_Backlog.pdf

Thursday, September 1, 2011

USCIS UPDATES 2012 H-1B COUNT ON 8/16/2011: AT 29,000

USCIS just issued an H-1B update: as of August 26, 2011, USCIS has received approximately 29,000 H-1B petitions subject to the regular cap plus approximately 15,800 petitions subject to the advanced degree quota.
Demand is slowly increasing but still plenty of visas left.