Building an Immigration Compliance Program When You Sponsor More Than One Foreign Worker

An immigration compliance program is the set of calendars, files, policies, and checks that let an employer with several sponsored workers prove that each one is in status, paid what the government was promised, working where the paperwork says, and documented the way four agencies require: the Department of Labor (H-1B wages, the public access file, PERM records), USCIS (petitions and Fraud Detection and National Security site visits), ICE (Forms I-9), and the Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, or IER (discrimination in hiring). With one H-1B employee, HR can hold this in their head. With five or more, you need a system: one calendar, a standard file per worker, written rules on who pays for what, a plan for a government visit, and a quarterly audit.

The compliance calendar: three dates per worker, not one

The first job of a program is a single calendar, kept by one named person, of every date that can end a worker’s right to work or trigger a filing. An H-1B employee has at least three. The petition validity on the I-797 is what USCIS granted, up to three years at a time within the six-year limit. The I-94 is the admission CBP actually gave; it can end earlier than the petition, and the earlier date controls. The LCA validity is DOL’s window, no longer than three years. A fourth date matters for anyone with a pending green card: an H-1B can run past six years only if a PERM or I-140 was filed at least 365 days before the extension takes effect.

Other categories add their own dates. Employees on OPT, STEM OPT, an H-4 EAD, or a pending adjustment work on an Employment Authorization Document with a hard end date, and the rules changed on October 30, 2025: a renewal filed on or after that date no longer extends the card automatically, so authorization ends the day after the card expires. File renewals early, reverify the I-9 by the expiration date, and diary the cap-gap end date for students, covered in our guide to hiring F-1 graduates on OPT and STEM OPT. An H-1B extension filed with the same employer before status ends lets the worker keep working for up to 240 days while pending. For green cards, record the PERM recruitment and certification dates and the priority date, which our visa bulletin guide explains.

The H-1B public access file and posting notice

Every LCA creates a public access file that the public may inspect and that a Wage and Hour investigator asks for first. Under 20 CFR 655.760 it must be available within one working day after the LCA is filed. It holds a signed printout of the certified LCA and cover pages; documentation of the wage to be paid; an explanation of how you set the actual wage for the occupation; the source and methodology of the prevailing wage; a copy of the posting notice with the dates and places posted, or the email that served as notice; and a summary of benefits offered to U.S. workers in the occupation. Successors after a restructuring and H-1B-dependent employers add further items.

The notice goes up on or within 30 days before the LCA is filed and stays up for a total of 10 days, in at least two conspicuous places at each worksite under that LCA, including a client site. Electronic notice (an intranet page for 10 days, or one direct email) also works. If the worker is later placed at another site within the same area, post again there on or before their first day, and hand every worker a signed copy of the certified LCA no later than the day they report. Keep the file for one year beyond the last day any H-1B worker is employed under that LCA, and keep payroll records for the H-1B workers and everyone else in the occupation for three years from creation; they stay out of the public file but must be produced to DOL.

Wage obligations, benching, and who pays what

The LCA commits you to pay each H-1B worker the required wage, the higher of the prevailing wage for the occupation in that area and the actual wage you pay similarly qualified employees in the job, as cash wages on payroll, at least monthly. The obligation starts when the worker first makes themselves available, and it starts even if they never do (see the table above). Benching is the classic violation. If the worker is idle because of an employer decision, such as no project to assign, the full salary is still due. The only unpaid nonproductive time is time the worker takes at their own request or cannot work, and only if no benefit plan or statute requires pay.

The second half of the rule is deductions. Recouping an employer business expense from the worker counts as unpaid wages even when it never appears on a pay stub, and the regulation names attorney fees and the costs of preparing and filing the LCA and petition as business expenses. The ACWIA training fee may never be paid by the worker, directly or indirectly. For PERM, a separate rule bars the employer from seeking or receiving any payment, including wage concessions, for anything connected to the labor certification. Write it into policy and offer letters: the company pays petition and PERM costs, including legal fees. Have counsel review any retention agreement: a penalty for leaving early is prohibited, and liquidated damages must meet state-law standards and exclude the ACWIA fee. Our guide to green card sponsorship at scale covers eligibility rules.

Worksite changes, amendments, and H-1B dependency

USCIS requires an amended or new petition, with a current or new certified LCA, for any material change in the terms of employment, filed before the change takes place. A move to a place of employment outside the area on the existing LCA is always material. Three situations are not: a move within the same area, with a fresh posting at the new site; a short-term placement outside the area of up to 30 workdays a year (60 in narrow cases); and training trips or peripatetic work. Remote staff who quietly relocate are where programs break. Route every address change to the immigration owner before payroll updates it, and see our guide on when an H-1B amendment is required for the gray cases.

Are you an H-1B-dependent employer?

Under 20 CFR 655.736 a company is H-1B-dependent with 25 or fewer full-time-equivalent U.S. employees and more than seven H-1B workers; 26 to 50 FTEs and more than 12; or 51 or more FTEs and H-1B workers equal to at least 15 percent of the workforce. On every LCA not limited to exempt workers (paid at least $60,000 a year in cash, or holding a master’s or higher degree in a related specialty), a dependent employer attests that it will not displace a similarly employed U.S. worker in the 90 days before and after each petition, including at a client site, and that it first recruited U.S. workers in good faith at the required wage. Both add records to the public access file and language to the notice; rerun the headcount before each LCA.

Site visits, and ending employment the right way

When an FDNS officer arrives

USCIS may verify any H-1B petition through on-site inspections, interviews, and record reviews, at your office or a client site, and refusing to cooperate may lead to denial or revocation of petitions for workers at that location. USCIS describes FDNS visits as unannounced fact-finding by officers who are not law enforcement; they confirm the worker’s location, workspace, hours, salary, and duties against the petition. Prepare now: a reception-desk protocol naming who to call; each worker’s petition, LCA, and recent pay stubs in one place; and a briefing for sponsored employees and their managers that the honest answer is the right one. Provide what is readily available, take notes, and have counsel follow up.

A bona fide termination has three parts

The wage obligation ends only on a bona fide termination, and the agencies look for three steps. First, notify USCIS: 8 CFR 214.2(h)(11) requires a letter explaining the change to the office that approved the petition, and approval is automatically revoked on that notice. Second, withdraw the LCA with DOL once no H-1B workers remain under it. Third, if the company dismissed the worker before the end of the authorized period, offer the reasonable cost of return transportation to their last foreign residence, in writing; a resignation does not trigger this duty. The worker has a one-time grace period of up to 60 consecutive days per validity period (or until the authorized stay ends, if sooner) in which they are not treated as out of status, though they cannot work; many use it to find a sponsor for an H-1B transfer.

I-9 discipline, PERM files, and the anti-discrimination rules

Form I-9 applies to every hire regardless of nationality: Section 1 by the first day, Section 2 within three business days, reverification no later than the day a document expires, retention for three years after hire or one year after termination, whichever is later, and at least three business days’ notice before an inspection. E-Verify is mandatory only for certain employers, including STEM OPT employers. Our guide to ICE I-9 inspections covers the Notice of Inspection and self-audits, and our I-9 compliance practice handles both. PERM files are DOL’s other record set: each application and all supporting documentation, kept five years from filing and produced on audit, as our PERM audit guide describes.

The fourth agency is the Department of Justice. Under 8 U.S.C. 1324b and 28 CFR part 44, IER investigates citizenship-status discrimination in hiring, firing, and recruiting by employers with four or more employees (protecting citizens, nationals, recent permanent residents, asylees, and refugees); national-origin discrimination by employers with four to 14 employees (the EEOC covers 15 and up); unfair documentary practices, meaning demanding more or different I-9 documents because of status or origin; and retaliation. IER says you may ask applicants whether they are authorized to work and whether they will need sponsorship now or in the future, but warns against postings such as “Only U.S. citizens,” “Must have a green card,” and, equally, “H-1Bs or OPT candidates preferred.” Write one hiring policy that applies the same steps to everyone.

Tracking tools and the quarterly audit

The tool matters less than the ownership. A spreadsheet works for ten workers if one person owns it; a case-management system or your law firm’s client portal works better at thirty because it sends reminders. Per worker it should hold the category, every end date, the LCA, the confirmed worksite, the wage, the green card stage, and where the public access file lives. Then run this audit every quarter:

• Compare every sponsored worker’s current address and worksite in HR with the LCA; flag any move, including a remote employee’s.
• Compare each H-1B salary with the required wage, and confirm raises to U.S. peers were matched where the actual wage rule requires it.
• Open each public access file and check the core items, the posting record, and the worker’s signed LCA receipt.
• List every expiration in the next 180 days (I-94, petition, EAD, LCA, passport) and assign a filing date to each.
• Rerun the H-1B dependency headcount against the quarterly tax filing.
• Spot-check Forms I-9 for completeness and timely reverification.
• For every departure, confirm the USCIS letter, LCA withdrawal, and return transportation offer are on file.
• Review the quarter’s job postings for citizenship or visa-status language, and confirm PERM recruitment files are complete.

How Atlas Immigration Law helps

We help growing employers turn a stack of cases into a program: the tracker, the file templates, the policy language, the site-visit protocol, and a quarterly audit run with your HR team. The same team handles the filings, from H-1B petitions and amendments to PERM and the employment-based green card. Every engagement runs on a flat fee agreed in writing and billed at milestones, with a dedicated paralegal reachable by call, email, or text, a client portal where HR sees every deadline, and attorney Jordan Weinberg reviewing every filing. Atlas is based in Dallas and works with employers in all 50 states. Learn more about our employer sponsorship practice, or request a free consultation at /contact.

This guide is part of our business immigration services — the service page covers eligibility, fees, and how we handle these cases.

Jordan S. Weinberg, Esq.

Founder & Managing Attorney, Atlas Immigration Law

Member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the Dallas Bar Association. Licensed to practice in Texas; fluent in English and Spanish.

Legally reviewed by a licensed immigration attorney

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Immigration law and procedures change, and how they apply depends on your specific facts — consult a licensed immigration attorney about your situation.