On May 20, 2020, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) signed a settlement agreement with plaintiffs who had sued the agency for its implementation of a policy interpreting whether an employer/employee relationship is legally established for purposes of qualification for H-1B work visa petitions involving work performed at third party work sites. The policy memorandum required that contracts and itineraries be submitted by companies that placed H-1B workers at third party work sites. In turn, this essentially forced H-1B employers to detail what H-1B workers would be doing at third party work sites for every day of employment, which is typically requested for a three year period. Pursuant to the terms of the settlement, CIS agreed to rescind its 2018 memorandum on this topic in its entirety, and states that CIS will not apply the regulatory itinerary submission requirement until the agency issues new guidance on that topic.
This is a huge victory for H-1B employers who have found it increasingly difficult to successfully submit H-1B petitions when the workers are required to physically work at third party locations. It is also a huge victory for the plaintiffs in the litigation, all of whose cases will be re-opened and re-adjudicated by CIS in line with the settlement.
Originally published June 1, 2020.
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