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H-1B Advisor

Required Records

Some records of interest to the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) are required to be maintained to comply with other laws (e.g., the Fair Labor Standards Act or the Internal Revenue Code). An H-1B employer must maintain the following records and make them available to the WHD upon request.

For each H-1B worker and each U.S. worker in the same occupation at an H-1B worker's place of employment:

  1. Name, address, occupation, social security number, period of employment in each place and area of employment, entire petition package, all subsequent LCAs used for each worker, date H-1B nonimmigrant entered into the U.S., date H-1B worker entered into employment, documentation in support of any unpaid periods, documentation of termination, including notice to USCIS and offer of transportation home, if applicable.
  2. Rate of pay, hours of work, gross pay, deductions, net pay, and documentation of withholding taxes remitted to taxing authorities and benefit deductions to benefit providers.
  3. Fringe benefit plan(s) offered and provided.

And all of the records required for public access, as well as underlying confidential records, such as:

  1. All LCAs.
  2. Wage rate to be paid to H-1B worker.
  3. Full and clear explanation of firm's actual wage (including a demonstration of its acceptablity).
  4. Prevailing wage rate and its source (including demonstration of its acceptability).
  5. Documentation that the notice requirement was satisfied.
  6. Summary of firm's fringe benefits to U.S. workers and H-1B workers.
  7. In the event of a corporate change: a sworn statement by a responsible official of the new employing entity that it accepts all obligations, liabilities, and undertakings under the LCAs filed by the predecessor employing entity, together with a list of each affected LCA and its date of certification, and a description of the actual wage system and Employer Identification Number (EIN) of the new employing entity.
  8. List of entities included as a "single employer" under the Internal Revenue Code.

In addition, an H-1B dependent employer and/or an H-1B willful violator is required to maintain the following additional records:

  1. Documentation of firm's dependency calculation, if
  1. dependency is not obvious or not stable; or
  2. firm attests that it is not dependent but does not meet the "snap-shot" test; or
  3. firm's status changed from dependent to non-dependent; or
  4. firm utilized the snap-shot or full calculation of status when claiming "single employer" or "group of businesses" status from the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service) (See WH Fact Sheet #62C).
  1. List of entities forming firm's "single employer".
  2. List of firm's "exempt" H-1B worker(s).
  3. Documentation of firm's recruiting:
  1. Recruiting methods used;
  2. Date and copy of advertisement/posting and compensation offered;
  3. Any document created/received concerning worker recruitment and interviews; and
  4. Offer to U.S. worker(s) and the applicant(s)' response(s).
  1. If firm operates as a contractor and arranges for an H-1B worker to work at another employer's work site:
    1. Written communication or contract language with secondary employer regarding U.S. worker displacement; and/or
    2. Contemporaneous written note of secondary employer's oral statement regarding U.S. worker displacement;
  1. Name, last-known address, personnel records, pay records, and anything created/received concerning U.S. worker hiring/firing/departing at or near the time of filing USCIS H-1B petition (90 days before until 90 days after the filing) and the hiring or placement of an H-1B worker. (See WH Fact Sheet #62N.)

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H-1B Advisor Glossary of Terms | Wage and Hour Division