U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued guidance this week that clarified exceptions to a recent Administrative Appeals Office decision on H-1B work site changes, but attorneys say despite a new compliance grace period the ruling could still cause headaches for consulting companies and employers whose workers telecommute.
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By providing this grace period, the agency recognized that some employers had relied on starkly different advice from a 2003 letter by Efren Hernandez, the agency’s former business and trade branch director, which said that a new LCA doesn’t necessarily require an amended H-1B filing, according to Ian Macdonald of Greenberg Traurig LLP.
“They owned the fact that one of its heads of agency had issued a business letter indicating information, [or] advice, contrary to the AAO decision,” Macdonald said. “And as a consequence, did give some room for employers to correct their records, as opposed to a strict liability threshold."