This week the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) issued a new Policy Memorandum (PM) titled “Contracts and Itineraries Requirements for H-1B Petitions Involving Third-Party Worksites” which increases the amount and type of documentation that must be submitted in support of H-1B petitions involving third-party worksite placement (H-1B petitions in which the the H-1B beneficiary will be employed at the worksite of a third-party client).  Common examples of such placements include consultants placed at a client site in order to provide consulting services, certain staffing agencies/IT service vendors, and some subcontractor arrangements.

The PM supersedes prior policy memoranda on this issue and clarifies and consolidates the documentary requirements for H-1B petitioners submitting petitions for third-party placement. The PM makes clear that such petitions must include additional documentation, namely contracts and itineraries, showing that the beneficiary will be employed in a specialty occupation and that the petitioner will maintain an employer-employee relationship with the beneficiary throughout the requested petition validity period.