Even with recent improvements in electronic processing of nonimmigrant visa applications, the pain of manual paperwork and records for H-1B and related visas remains with us. Employers must print and sign the Labor Condition Application (LCA) (Form ETA 9035/ETA 9035E) and store it in a separate file available to any member of the public, along with these documents:

• the H-1B worker’s rate of pay,
• description or summary of the wage system,
• the prevailing wage rate and its source,
• documentation proving you satisfied the notice requirement,
• a summary of the benefits offered to both US and H-1B workers,
• a list of entities included in the definition of the single employer, and
• documentation related to a change in the corporate entity.

Besides those documents, and H-1B dependent employer or a willful violator must also include:

• a list of FLSA-exempt H-1B nonimmigrant workers, and
• a summary of recruitment methods, if the employer hired any non exempt H-1B nonimmigrant workers.

You will need to upload at least for copies of your LCA:

• two copies for the required notice postings for each of your locations along with your certification that the notices were posted.
• a copy of your unapproved application, since you are required to have the signed application in the file one day after you submit the application but it takes up to seven days to get an approval. (It makes little sense to us, too.)
• The approved application, printed and signed by your company.

You don’t need us to give you more information on how to be compliant. The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour division provides all the resources you need on their website at https://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/h1b.htm. When you maintain paper files, your labor attorney will give you good advice on best practices.

Risks in Manual File Management

Our area of concern is the administrative overhead and likelihood of errors in manual processes, where human frailty can have severe consequences. Humans make mistakes; errors and omissions will happen. You also must have someone available to retrieve the files for any member of the public who requests them, and should purge records when they have reached their expiration date.

Introducing Chasma Trek

You now can relieve the pain and worry of maintaining your H1B Public Access File. Chasma Trek is the new online application that reduces your administrative costs by creating segregated and secure online document management for your H-1B files.

You can now provide online access so members of the public , investigators, and auditors can access the records without your support beyond providing the file location. For visitors who come to your offices to view records, you can provide a tablet or workstation at your reception area with restricted access.

Automate to Reduce Errors

You have several options to maintain the record for each employee. Scanned documents can be pulled directly into Trek. You can upload files for each employee profile, integrate with your HR system to automatically pull data into Trek, and synchronize data input with your system of record to minimize data entry.

To help you manage and display the records, trek also provides

• an auditing function to notify you when any file has missing documents, and
• a filter that allows you to display and purge expired records, and
• an easy-to-navigate user interface that makes it easy to view supporting documentation.

It pays to automate the process as much as you can and let your machines do what they do best — repetitive data processing, tracking, and reporting. Let Trek give you the peace of mind of knowing your H-1B file is always audit ready.

Chasma Place, is an independent source for solutions that will help you keep pace with changes in the way your people work without ripping and replacing your existing systems.