H-1B Visa Program: Labor Could Improve Its Oversight and Increase Information Sharing with Homeland Security
GAO-06-720
Published: Jun 22, 2006. Publicly Released: Jun 22, 2006.
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Highlights
The H-1B visa program assists U.S. employers in temporarily filling certain occupations with highly-skilled foreign workers. There is considerable interest regarding how Labor, along with Homeland Security and Justice, is enforcing the requirements of the program. This report describes: (1) how Labor carries out its H-1B program responsibilities; and (2) how Labor works with other agencies involved in the H-1B program. We interviewed officials and analyzed data from all three agencies.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| To increase employer compliance with the H-1B program and protect the rights of U.S. and H-1B workers, Congress may wish to consider (1) eliminating the restriction on using application and petition information submitted by employers as the basis for initiating an investigation, and (2) directing Homeland Security to provide Labor with information received during the adjudication process that may indicate an employer is not fulfilling its H-1B responsibilities. | As of August 2010, the Congress has not given consideration to the specific recommendations we made. Although several legislative proposals have been made regarding the H-1B program, none of them have touched on our particular suggestions. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Labor | To strengthen oversight of employers' applications to hire H-1B workers, Labor should improve its procedures for checking completeness and obvious inaccuracies, including developing more stringent, cost-effective methods of checking for wage inaccuracies and invalid employer identification numbers. | In 2009, the Department of Labor's (Labor) Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) introduced iCERT Visa Portal System, a new electronic filing system, to improve customer service, reduce long-term IT costs, and enhance the review of LCAs for completeness and obvious inaccuracies. When an H-1B Labor Condition Application (LCA) is filed by an employer, the iCERT System's LCA Module checks a number of data points against established business rules and, where obvious errors or inconsistencies are found, the case is flagged for review by analysts in Labor's Chicago National Processing Center (Chicago NPC). The level of integrity in the new LCA Module represents a significant improvement...
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| Department of Labor | To ensure employers are complying with program requirements, as USCIS transforms its information technology system, the Labor application case number should be included in the new system, so that adjudicators are able to quickly and independently ensure that employers are not requesting more H-1B workers than were originally approved on their application to Labor. | In 2006, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) commented that it intends to capture the Labor Condition Application case number as it develops a technology solution to support a transformed business process. In March 2007, Labor's requirements for a new case management system indicated that the Labor Condition Application case numbers will be included in the new system. Although that system has not been fully implemented yet, DHS took action to address this recommendation. On March 19, 2008, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), DHS, issued an interim final rule in the Federal Register that prohibits employers from filing multiple H-1B petitions for the same employee....
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Topics
Data integrityH-1B VisasInteragency relationsInternal controlsPay ratesProgram managementEmployment of foreign nationalsHomeland securityLabor forceDatabase management systems