Home » US Immigration - Visas » USCIS Administrative Site Visits, FDNS – Employees Questions ? How to be Prepared ?

USCIS Administrative Site Visits, FDNS – Employees Questions ? How to be Prepared ?

Since Trump Administration took office, there have been many changes to the way H1B petitions, L1 visa cases are processed and more scrutiny. USCIS has indicated that they will increase site visits to detect fraud and violations as part of the Trump’s Policies and changes to strengthen H1B Program.  It is important for you as H1B Employee or L1 worker to be prepared and have the right information in-line with your petition to avoid any future issues.

 USCIS Administrative Site Visits Program ? What is FDNS ?

USCIS created this program of Administrative site visits in 2009 to combat fraud and check compliance. As part of the program FDNS ( Fraud Detection and National Security) Officer make unannounced visits to H1B sponsors offices, candidate’s location for compliance review.  While the title of the officer seems fancy, it is just a title given for officer who collects info and conducts audit, so do not be worried.  The employers for site visits are randomly chosen based on some metrics and some are very targeted after Trump Administration took over.

Important Note :  As of now, participating in this program of Administrative site visits is voluntary, but highly desirable.  You should check with your employer and have it clarified, if your company wants to participate in it or it. You can tell to the FDNS officer that you are unwilling to participate and they will not further proceed with the site visit and ask for details. They may follow up with your employer or you via email/ phone call or fax.

 There are two aspects of it, one is FDNS officer doing site visit and audit of Employer’s location and working with HR and second is to interview the Employee / Beneficiary. In our context, we will cover only the employee part.

 How does the Administrative Site Visit happen – Employee ?  What to expect ?  What to ask ?

Step 1 – Arrival of FDNS Officer at Work Location :

Usually FDNS officer will arrive at the work location that is specified on your H1B or L1 petition and without prior intimation and ask the front desk to meet the employee.  So, it is important for you to make sure, you know the exact work location that is on your petition, especially in cases that have third party worksite details.

Important Note : It is recommend that you ask the FDNS officer to show identification to be clear. Nothing to fear, it is your right to validate the credentials. You should ask for business card as well.

 Step 2 – FDNS Officer Inquiry, Questions, Documents

Once you meet the FDNS Officer, he / she would ask you few questions and may ask to check your exact work desk and they may take pictures as well and document info. Below are some questions that you can expect and need to be prepared with.

USCIS Administrative Site Visit Questions  for Employee / Beneficiary :

  • What are your Job duties ?
  • What are your qualifications ?
  • What are your terms of employment ? Since when you were employed ?
  • What is your job title ?
  • How many hours do you work per week / month ?
  • Where do you exactly work in terms of locations ?
  • What is manager’s name ?
  • Who do you work with on a day to day basis for getting work ?
  • Who does your performance appraisals ?
  • When you were hired at the company
  • What is your Salary ?
  • Ask for copy of your LCA ?
  • Ask for recent paystubs ? How much are you paid ?
  • Ask if you were paid on time and every month ?
  • Ask to meet HR or Your current manager and verify all the details that you have said are same.
  • Ask, if you paid for the H1B Petition ? If so, how much ?

The whole goal of all these questions above are to ensure that your current employment and duties are same as what was filed in the H1B or L1 petition.

Important Note : As you can see majority of the questions that you would get are related to your H1B or L1 Petition, your job duties, and your profile. It is very important for you as employee to have a copy of your approved H1B or L1 Petition and you understand fully the role, your duties and see if there are any differences. If so, make sure you are aligned with your employer. It is very important for you as an employee to have a conversation with your employer and the immigration attorney on the administrative site visits and protocol for you to follow, if there is a FDNS site visit. You should also request for a copy of your I-9 so that you understand what is in it.

Step 3 – Documenting the Site Visit by FDNS Officer :

Once officer speaks to you, they will document all the information that was told by you and submit that report to USCIS. If there are any discrepancies in the information, you may be issued a NOIR ( Notice of Intent to Revoke).

What if I am not present during FDNS Officer Site visit ?

Sometimes, you may not be present at the actual work location for a variety of reasons like you may be on leave or traveling for business or maybe your work location is different.  It is very important to make sure that your absence is documented or informed to HR or your Manager at your worksite, so that they can give right answer.  USCIS officer will email you or call you to arrange for another meetup when you are back in office.  If let’s say your work location has changed and that details are different from the one in petition, then it could lead to issues in compliance. Also, if you are working in different places, that has to be detailed in the itinerary when the petition is submitted so that all that info is there to avoid issues.  It is important for you as an employee to be clear on your current work address and the one that was in petition to be same. Even, if you take promotion and change offices, that has to properly documented and updated as needed by working with your attorney otherwise, site visits can cause issues.

Overall, there is nothing to panic, if you get a administrative site visit. Does not mean that your company was bad or anything, it would just be that you got lucky in random selection of company…You have your rights to ask for identification and there is nothing to worry. You need to make sure you discuss scenarios like these and be prepared to avoid issues.

Were you part of a site visit with FDNS officer ? What questions were asked ? Your thoughts ?

Reference : USCIS Administrative Site Visits Program Page

   

Other Articles

58 Comments

  1. Hi

    I had a telephonic call recently with fdns officer. They sent an email to client . My client supervisor is not responding for email as they don’t have authority to respond. I have provided all additional details like client letter, portal references etc.

    If client is not responding for email will there be any serious issue?

    Reply
    • Rakesh,
      Well, they can do a site visit, if no response. I am not sure, what is the impact as this is not disclosed to the public clearly.

      Reply
    • Hi Rakesh,what happened after this?
      Uscis did the site visit..the role and job duties which i mentioned doesnt match with client’s response.whats going to happen to petetion(i applied for h1extension)

      Reply
  2. Hey Kumar,

    I have a simple question, does USCIS do home visits even after H1B case was approved? I live in the US and want to temporarily move to my friend’s place in different state in US, since I won’t be in the location. I am worried if USCIS visits me even after the approval and I am not in the house.

    Reply
    • I would also like to have opinions, please everyone respond if possible about your experiences. It will be helpful to me.

      Reply
    • Sachin,
      Yes, they may… that is a possibility. Make sure you inform your employer and plan it ahead, in case they arrive.

      Reply
      • Thanks Kumar, will do that, if there is a situation like they come to my house and I’m am not there and when they contact my employer, my employer says that I am not there in the location for more than a month, will that be a problem? But my address will still be the same location itself, it’s just that I won’t be there in the location

        Reply
        • Sachin,
          You should always be compliant with LCA and working. If you have all of that paperwork in place and do not break it, you are fine. Work with your attorney and plan for all of them, if you plan to be longer in other place.

          Reply
  3. I got RFE and responded to uscis on 11-Mar and a call from FDNS team on 10-Mar. They got the details from me and they called to my manager and client manager.they both are working in another location and weekly twice they visited the main client location which is in my LCA. FDNS team asked my manager is she working in your locations which is not in my LCA. My manager said no but my client manager said rarely she is visiting for meetings. Is there any issue with this answer. It’s the 9 day after the premium upgrade and didn’t get any decision. I am worrying about my client manager answer. Could you please advice me on this. Is it causing any wrong

    Reply
  4. Hi . I am on my H1b (already approved) and received a call from USCIS for employment verification interview at their field office. I have completed the interview and submitted additional documentation. How do I know if everything is fine. Will I receive any letter from USCIS about my interview being satisfactory ?

    Reply
    • Hi Lakshmi – I am on the same boat as you. I had a site visit today at my home. I have completed the interview and provided them the required information. I will let you know if I receive any update. I was told by the officer that they will submit a report on this visit and then it will be send to uscis for adjudication i.e. if the findings are positive, there won’t be any issues. If there are any negative findings, they will provide an NOIR [Notice of intent to revoke].

      I hope everything goes well!

      Thank you.
      Jay

      Reply
    • Hi Lakshmi,
      Did you receive any update from USCIS. I was called for field office today to attend an interview. Please let me know if you received any information from them.

      Reply
  5. I have filled visa on Oct 15,2019. Received RFE in May 2020. Responded back and updated to premium. Received approval on August 27,2020.
    After this also FDNS site visit happened on Sept 28,2020. I was not at my job loc5q⁶ation as we all are working from home in corona period.
    I got email from officer with 30+questions.
    We are planning to reply this within 24 hrs.
    I haven’t received my approved petition.
    Does this visit affect that?
    Is there any risk?
    I’m really worried what happens next.

    Reply
    • Hi Mayur:
      Hope things got cleared for your situation.
      I am getting a site visit and will be interviewed.
      Can you please email me the questions you received from officer and things I need to be careful about? cheapcbooks@yahoo.com
      Thanks,
      Suresh

      Reply
  6. I have filled visa on Oct 15,2019. Received RFE in May 2020. Responded back and updated to premium. Received approval on August 27,2020.
    After this also FDNS site visit happened on Sept 28,2020. I was not at my job location as we all are working from home in corona period.
    I got email from officer with 30+questions.
    We are planning to reply this within 24 hrs.
    I haven’t received my approved petition.
    Does this visit affect that?
    Is there any risk?
    I’m really worried what happens next.

    Reply
  7. After on-site officer visit on h1b how long it will take to hear back from them.. they did internal inquiry by sending email regarding jobs and duties and also came to visit but I was not there as it’s corona time so wfh then we have telephonic interview and they ask me for documents which I submitted

    Reply
  8. Hi,
    After Site visit happened and immediately could we change the client and move to new location for new job with new amendment.

    Thank you in Advance.

    Reply
      • Thank you Kumar,

        I mean to ask you like before getting the reply from site visit report , Could we change the location and job with new amedment.

        Reply
        • Abr,
          There is nothing that you get to you or your employer…it is for their own compliance and verification. So, it does not matter…Discuss with your attorney.

          Reply
  9. Hey. So after my site visit I received a green card. But on the approval notice they said they reserve the law to to verify this information contact others via phone mail or internet use public information and any other ways to ensure I complied and I’m eligible for benefit I seek and if they find any thing they will follow the law. What does it mean? That its not over yet ? What If I wanna change my job? How long should I work for my boss ?

    Reply
  10. I filed for H1 extension and got RFE and provided response. After response, FDNS came for site visit and i answered all questions. Then they sent a set of questions to my employer and he responded. at the same time they sent the list of questions to my client. my client is not authorized to provide the information to uscis. they sent a reminder email.
    what would happen if my client don’t provide response? client have strict policy for responding to uscis for the sub.contractors. mine is EVC(employer, vendor & client) model.
    rfe status updated as received. i am worried as what would happen if client don’t provide response. its been 3 weeks since visit.

    Reply
  11. Hi
    My H1b is pending response since it was picked up in lottery in April 2019. i have been waiting until i got to know that FDNS officer has sent an email to my client person who is not my manager. And the email remained unanswered for 2 months , until when it was forwarded to my manager and she responded with all the details asked.
    So i am worried if delay in responding would cause any problem . i was surprised why USCIS sent email to person whom i have never provided in my application eg:my client letter .
    Please advise

    Rajib

    Reply
    • To add further :
      Hi
      My H1b is pending response since it was picked up in lottery in April 2019. i have been waiting until i got to know that FDNS officer has sent an email to my client person who is not my manager. And the email remained unanswered for 2 months , until when FDNS officer sent an remainder email again and it was forwarded to my manager and she responded with all the details asked.
      So i am worried if delay in responding would cause any problem . i was surprised why USCIS sent email to person whom i have never provided in my application eg:my client letter .
      Also how long it will take to get an response now .
      Please advise

      Rajib

      Reply
      • Hi Rajib, can you tell me what questions and documents were requested from the client manager ? I’m in the same situation.

        Reply
        • Hey Gaurav
          I remover they have some list of questions in the email to my manager .
          1) Is the beneficiary work for your organization ?
          2) what is the work location of the beneficiary ?
          3) What is the start date and end date of the beneficiary in the project?
          4) Who is paying beneficiary salary ?
          Remember the answer should match what you have submitted in the petition .
          5) Key job duties of the beneficiary?

          Reply
          • Thanks, Rajib. I started for my client (worked from employers office as a FTE in another position) and then amended once I began working at the client site. Can we ask the manager to mention the start and date as is mentioned in the lca for which the amended petetion was filed ?

  12. how long it takes to get the result of h1 extension after site visit…. speculation is that if the results are out after a month of site visit its approval.. if they dont hear more than 2 months its a denial… how far is that true ????

    Reply
  13. I missed the Call from USICS officer who came to visit me at the site , so he emailed my manager regarding the same and asking few queries and documents. We have provided all the details within 24 hrs.

    But I have few queries regarding it

    1. Is there any possibility the USICS officer will come again to Visit me at the Site.
    2. If not , in how many days can I expect the decision( My H1B is in amendment and Extension , and submitted the RFE documents in January, its more than 3 months I am waiting for the decision)
    3. My employer is upgrading my case to Premium. Can I go ahead for Premium . this is has nothing to do with audit ?

    Reply
    • They may come and visit again, it is up to them.
      Well, it is hard to say, unless it is premium…there is no SLA.
      Yes, go for it.

      Reply
    • So weird thing happened in this case. Employer filed application incorrectly causing employee to get a base petition denial but with secondary petitions pending. Employer didn’t inform employee until 2.5 months later to stop going to client site. Then sent consular processing request on remaining petitions. In the meantime employee who had good relations with client manager stayed a couple of weeks more to give some notice to them without pay. Uscis mails questions regarding client letter on latest petition to client directly specifically on the need for the contractor in future etc (as client letter showed need for upto 3 yrs) and also indicating a possible site visit. But ofcourse by then employee is no longer on site because they’ve already asked them to leave the country. So what would cause this bizarre series of events? Any thoughts?

      Reply
      • Well, it is the employer and attorney, who have not managed the whole thing well and did not communicate to the employee…Hopefully, it does not impact the individual in future…

        Reply
        • I just had a site visit, they came last week but I was sick,after I called them and said I’m back to work they came back the next day… everything seemed ok, they got all docs they need. Can they come back again if they said ” you re fine”?
          Also,how long does it take for them to make a decision after a site visit ? Thank you for all the replies

          Reply
          • Aya,
            They do not really tell us how long it will take…they are just enforcement division and you may not even hear back…if you have given all docs, you are fine…dont worry about anything.

  14. Jag,
    Some stats from past FY 2013 to FY 2016 : “Of the 30,786 H-1B compliance reviews, USCIS determined that 26,975 (88 percent) were compliant and 3,811 (12 percent) were noncompliant. Of the 4,676 L-1A compliance reviews, USCIS determined that 4,157 (89 percent) were compliant and 519 (11 percent) were
    noncompliant” . You can read full USCIS FDNS Report FY 2013-16

    Reply

Leave a Comment