U.S. Government Site Audit or Phone Verification
Site Visit
Either during or after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)’s review of your petition, it is possible that a U.S. government representative or contractor will visit your premises to confirm information contained in your H-1B petition and to see where your sponsored employee works. If this happens, a USCIS representative or contractor will arrive announced at your offices or at the listed worksite.
Home-Based Office Employees
Please note that if your employee works from a home-based office, USCIS will go to your employee’s home because that is considered your employee’s “worksite.”
To be prepared in advance, please take a few minutes to review our Memo about what to expect and how to handle such a site visit.
Possible “KCC” Telephonic Inquiry
In addition, the U.S. Department of State’s Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) sometimes conducts post-adjudication telephone verification calls. If you receive a call from the KCC, please ensure you review your copy of the approved petition
before discussing the case with the caller so that the answers you give are accurate and based on information in your H-1B petition, and not based on your best recollection.
Confirming Identity of USCIS Site Auditor
In a USCIS site visit, please obtain the representative’s business card to confirm that the individual is authorized to conduct the visit. It is reasonable to decline to divulge private information about employees without verification of who is asking for information.
Do Not Guess
If you are not sure of the answer to a question, advise the visitor or caller that you need to gather the facts (do not guess).
Make Notes
Please keep notes of the details of the date and time, the questions asked, and the answers provided during the visit or call, mark your notes "Privileged and Confidential – Prepared at Direction of Legal Counsel,” and share those notes with us afterwards.
In Conclusion
Your H-1B employee should always contact you if he or she is approached by someone indicating that they are with the U.S. government and have questions about your H-1B case. Your employee should ask for the person’s business card and should immediately alert you and us regarding any direct or indirect contact of this kind. Please note that increasingly USCIS site visit representatives are by-passing the employer representative or contact and asking to speak directly with the H-1B employee. Most employers consider this to be unacceptable, and you should discuss with your H-1B employee what to do if this occurs.