Employers hurried in the last weeks of March to file H-1B petitions out of fear of missing out on the chance to obtain their share of the 85,000 new visas available annually. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did in fact have to conduct a lottery on April 7 to allot the visa numbers among the roughly 124,000 petitions filed for H-1B workers (technically as "specialty occupation workers").
Just by electronically submitting the Department of Labor form ETA-9035 labor condition application (LCA), a prerequisite for the H-1B petition, the employer is committing to abide by the many obligations imposed by Labor Department regulationseven before USCIS has adjudicated the H-1B petition or the foreign worker has started employment. A recent Labor Department administrative law judge (ALJ) decision is good reason to review the legal obligations of the employer under the H-1B program and learn how to avoid common mistakes made by all too many employers who are trying to control costs or save time and work.
