Employers spend a lot of time and effort understanding their immigration compliance obligations. They must navigate a complex network of immigration laws that impose some obligations on all employers and other obligations only on employers that choose to engage in specific kinds of immigration sponsorship. Employers that fail to comply with required obligations are subject to significant penalties.

The Immigration Compliance Toolkit provides resources to help employers comply with legal requirements and to minimize liability.

Immigration is principally governed by federal law. However, states and localities also may penalize employers that hire unauthorized workers in their jurisdictions.

This Toolkit is intended to assist employers in complying with following three major areas of immigration compliance.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) requires all employers to:

Some employers must enroll in the E-Verify employment eligibility verification system managed by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. All other employers may volunteer to participate in E-Verify. E-Verify allows employers to confirm an employee's social security number and employment authorization in the government agencies' databases.

Although government policies in worksite enforcement vary from administration-to-administration and year-to-year, employers generally are facing more Form I-9 investigations, resulting in extensive penalties. For more information on ICE's goals and actions, see ICE: Labor Exploitations and ICE: Form I-9 Inspection Overview.

The H-1B nonimmigrant visa category is one of the most frequently used work visas (while H-1B1 and E-3 visas are used by nationals of Chile, Singapore, and Australia for H-1B-type occupations). Before employers may file an H-1B visa petition (or request H-1B1 or E-3 status), they must obtain a certified Labor Condition Application (LCA) from the Department of Labor (DOL).

To obtain a certified LCA, employers must make attestations about the wages and working conditions of both H-1B, H-1B1, or E-3 workers and US workers. Employers must also maintain a Public Access File (PAF) that is available for inspection by any member of the public. The PAF and other data supporting the employer's attestations are subject to investigation by the DOL.

Employers violating the LCA regulations are subject to significant financial penalties and may be barred from immigration sponsorship for a year or more.

For more information on nonimmigrant visa categories generally see Key Nonimmigrant Visa Classifications Chart.

Employers that sponsor foreign worker employees for lawful permanent resident (or green card) status often must begin by filing a PERM labor certification application. Before filing a PERM application for a foreign worker, employers must test the US labor market for a qualified US worker candidate through a public recruitment campaign. Employers must retain documents showing their compliance with the DOL regulations in an audit file, and must present the documents to the DOL if requested.

Although employers are not subject to monetary penalties for violating the PERM program, they may face:

For more information on the green card process generally, see Practice Note, Business Immigration Sponsorship: Overview and Practice Note, Employment-Based Immigrant Visa Petitions in the US.

This Toolkit provides employers with: