5/30/2007

Throughout the employment-based nonimmigrant visa petition history, completing Part 2, Item 2, of the form I-129 has been a challenging task even for experienced employers and lawyers to pick the right box in the list. Lately, a number of the H-1B filings have been rejected and returned for failure to pay the $500 Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee because of the employer's checking of a wrong box in this Item.

Such rejection can be very serious in some situation as rejection is considered "not filed." If the employer refiles after the rejection and after the alien beneficiary's nonimmigrant status expired, such refiling can be denied for the "untimely" filing.

The USCIS released the guides for determination of the boxes in this Item of Form I-129. The following summary Matrix of this web site may be used as a check list to determine the appropriate box and Fraud Fee requirement.

Check Box	Same NIV Classification	Same Employer	Same Duties & Responsibilities	Fraud Fee Requirement	Comment
a. New Employment	No.	Yes or No.	Yes or No.	Yes.
b. Continuation of Previously Approved Employment w/o Change with the Same Employer	Yes.	Yes.	Yes.	No.
c. Change in Previously Approved Employment	Yes.	Yes.	No.	No.
d. New Concurrent Employment	Yes.	No.	Yes or No.	Yes.	Concurrent Employment includes filing for two concurrent H-1B employment with the two different employers.
e. Change of Employer	Yes.	No.	Yes or No.	Yes.
f. Amended Petition	Yes.	Yes.	*Material Changes	No.
			Material changes can include job location, Federal ID Number, Different Duties, etc.