Form ETA-9035, the Labor Condition Application (LCA) form that employers use to disclose temporary worker wages, will soon compel additional reporting such as details about the scope of work and required workforce at each anticipated location. The changes also include additional requirements for H1-B dependent employers and willful violators.

This form is used for H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 employment petitioners. Employers who want to review their contractual arrangements with vendors who sponsor workers from abroad should contact their Miller Mayer attorney.

The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced the following essential amendments:

  • Employers must disclose if H-1B, H-1B1, or E-3 workers will be stationed at a third-party location as part of their assigned work;
  • Employers must provide details for all potential worksites; and
  • Employers must include an estimation of how many foreign workers they intend to employ at each worksite.

Even if employers do not regularly place workers at worksites they do not control, they should consider the impact of the new rule on H-1B sponsorship by their contractors. If a vendor supplies workers to the employer as a contractor, that employer’s name will now be publicly disclosed by the Department of Labor.

As of November 19, 2018, the new LCA form will become mandatory, meaning that H-1B,
H-1B1, and E-3 employers filing an LCA on or after November 19 must use the revised form and comply with the new third-party worksite disclosure requirements. Certified LCAs submitted before November 19 will remain valid until they expire.

This revised LCA form marks the first time that the DOL has inquired in detail about third-party placements and required H-1B employers to disclose end-client or vendor names. Earlier this year, in a February 2018 policy memorandum, USCIS enacted similar requirements for H-1B petitions involving third-party worksites. The DOL states that these heightened requirements for H-1B third-party worksite petitions are aligned with the DOL’s June 6, 2017, news release directing agencies to increase protections for U.S. workers and “aggressively confront visa program fraud and abuse.”

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