Build the H-1B and PERM file that answers a DOL OIG subpoena

The deadline is a DOL OIG subpoena. The rule is that your H-1B and PERM file must prove what the worker did, what the employer paid, and how any broker was paid. The workaround is to build the file before the request arrives.

The probe is already moving

DOL Inspector General Anthony P. D'Esposito announced on July 8, 2026, a formal fraud investigation into H-1B visas and PERM, the permanent-labor certification program, with the Department of Justice and the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

Anthony D'Esposito, the DOL inspector general, reported that investigators had already issued dozens of subpoenas tied to alleged H-1B and PERM abuse, labor trafficking, and displacement of American workers.

Project Firewall, a U.S. Department of Labor effort, began September 19, 2025, and the effort was associated with a 48% rise in federal H-1B visa investigations.

By November 2025, the Labor Department had at least 175 open H-1B investigations and $15 million in back-wage assessments under Project Firewall.

The OIG's review identified pay-return schemes, false LCA filings, and submarket wage deals meant to undercut U.S. workers.

Labor Department and OIG officials described schemes in which employers and labor brokers filed false applications and used coercive pay-return arrangements against foreign workers.

The compliance point is the subpoena queue. A file that cannot be opened quickly will not survive the first request.

The file must prove four things

A subpoena does not ask whether your intent was good. It asks whether the record can show the job, the pay, the recruitment, and the broker relationship. If the answer is yes, you can respond. If the answer is no, the first document request exposes the missing record.

Immigration law firms told employers with H-1B workers to check active LCAs, wage levels, job-duty files, and public access files.

H-1B wage compliance is the first item because payroll is dated. The LCA says what the worker should earn. The payroll file says what the worker actually earned. If the two do not line up, the mismatch is visible before anyone asks a question. Keep the prevailing wage record next to the LCA so the reviewer can see the benchmark and the payment in one pass.

Job-duty documentation is the second item. A petition describes a role. The file should show the role in practice: the duties and the expertise the role required. A generic job title is not enough when the investigator is testing whether the position was real. If the worker’s actual work drifted from the petition, the file should show when and how the role changed.

Recruitment evidence matters for PERM cases. The record should show that the employer looked for available workers and recorded the result. Dates and outcomes are the proof. A summary memo written later is weaker than the contemporaneous record. If the recruitment file is reconstructed, the reviewer will see the gap.

Broker arrangements are the third item. For a broker-placed worker, the record must show who paid whom, what services were bought, and whether any wage was returned. The cleanest answer is a contract and payment records that leave no room for inference. If a broker fee touches the worker’s wage, the file needs a clear explanation of the flow.

The checklist that survives a first request

Run this audit against one worker first. If it works for one, it can work for the portfolio. Each item should be testable in a minute, and the result should be a folder you can open without a search.

• Confirm each active LCA for the worker.
• Keep prevailing wage records and compare payroll to the wage level on each LCA.
• Keep the public access file for every H-1B petition in one dated folder.
• Store job-duty documentation that shows the actual duties and required expertise.
• Preserve PERM recruitment records, with dates and outcomes.
• Keep third-party placement contracts that show who paid whom, what services were bought, and whether any wage was returned.
• Keep evidence that the worker was not required to return part of the wage.
• Keep a change log for role or pay changes.
• Keep a single index that maps each worker to the LCA, payroll, duties, and broker contract.

A missing record needs a memo

If a folder is missing, do not backdate it. Create a missing-record memo that says what is missing, why it is missing, and what you will do next. Preserve the existing record. The memo should be dated, kept with the file, and written to show that the gap is known and being handled. Then ask counsel whether the missing record changes the response.