The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued guidance on changes in H-1B (visa) work locations in the wake of the Administrative Appeals Office's (AAO) April 9, 2015 decision in Matter of Simeio Solutions LLC. In Simeio, the AAO upheld the USCIS' revocation of an H-1B petition where the employer failed to list all the locations of employment for one of its employees. Notably, the AAO ruled that any change in an employee's work location to an area not covered by the petitioner's previous Labor Condition Application for Nonimmigrant Workers (LCA) is a "material change" that requires a petitioner to file an amended or new H-1B petition. Per the AAO decision, until and unless a petitioner files an amended H-1B petition, an employee/beneficiary may not work at a new work location outside the scope of the applicable LCA.
According to the recent USCIS guidance in light of the Simeio decision, employers have until August 19, 2015 to file amended petitions for H-1B employees who have already moved to new worksites not specified in an H-1B petition and associated LCA on file for the employee. For any worksite relocations that have not yet occurred, employers must obtain a new LCA and file an amended petition prior to the move taking place.
Please contact our Immigration Practice if you have any questions about H-1B location changes and how they affect H-1B workers.
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