Short Term Placement or Assignment: Peripatetic Jobs and H- 1B Regulation Compliance

For highly skilled H-1B workers, travel to another worksite may be intrinsic part of their job profile. Especially in Information Technology (IT), certain jobs require H-1B workers to visits client worksites for extended periods of time. Under the regulations, employers that send H-1B employees to a worksite location not specified in H-1B petition must file an amended petition. However, there are a few exceptions to USCIS regulations that allow employers with business that is peripatetic in nature, or business requiring short frequent trips to outside locations, to send H-1B workers to a different job site.

Offsite Business Up to 30 Days

Employers may make short term appointments to locations not specified in the LCA, without submitting an amendment petition or a new LCA, if the H-1B worker does not exceed 30 work days at the non-permanent work location. Offsite work appointments must be for the specified job description on the LCA, and may not be an assignment to a worksite area of strike or lockout. For the work days that are offsite, H-1B employers must continue to pay required wages, provide actual cost of out of town lodging, and supplement the H-1B worker’s incidental expenses.

Offsite Business 30-60 Days

In addition to the guidelines above, if employers send H-1B employers on assignment to a different location for a period lasting longer than 30 days and less than 60 days, employers must be able to prove that:

• The H-1B worker preserves a permanent workspace in the primary worksite listed on the LCA. For example, the H-1B non-immigrant maintains a personal desk with a functioning work phone;
• The H-1B worker spends a significant amount of time at the permanent worksite;
• The H-1B worker’s place of residence is near the area of the permanent worksite.

H-1B employers have a period of flexibility to ease administrative difficulties involved with filing amendments to H-1B petition. However, H-1B employers may not rotate H-1B employees on jobs for periods less than 30 days to avoid filing an amendment to the H-1B petition.