H-1B Worksite Changes: Why a New LCA Was Not Enough in Simeio | AAO Precedent Series 02
When an H-1B employee moves to a geographic area requiring a corresponding new Labor Condition Application (LCA), obtaining that LCA generally does not complete the change: the employer must also file an amended or new H-1B petition with USCIS. Simeio Solutions explains why those steps are distinct. Today's worksite changes also require attention to the current regulatory exceptions and the conditions for starting work under the changed arrangement.
Matter of Simeio Solutions, LLC, 26 I&N Dec. 542 (AAO 2015), decided April 9, 2015, is a published AAO precedent decision. Its central holding has precedential effect. Current implementation must be read with today's regulations rather than relying solely on the 2014 provisions quoted in the decision.
The move from a Long Beach project to two new worksites
An information technology services company petitioned for an employee who held F-1 status and was working through post-degree OPT. Its I-129, LCA, and support letter described an in-house project at its Long Beach, California office, with an annual salary of $50,232. No other worksites were requested. USCIS approved the petition on that record (pages 542–543).
After approximately two months of H-1B employment, the employee traveled to India to apply for a visa. A consular officer requested a client letter. The company did not provide it and instead identified clients absent from the approved petition. The petition returned to USCIS. A site visit then revealed that the company had vacated the original premises. The company later confirmed that the employee no longer worked on the original project or at the specified location (pages 543–544).
Responding to a notice of intent to revoke, the company submitted a new LCA listing Camarillo, California and Hoboken, New Jersey. Both locations were in metropolitan statistical areas different from the original Long Beach worksite. It did not file an amended I-129. The director revoked approval and certified the decision to the AAO, which affirmed revocation. This was review of a revoked approval on certification, rather than an ordinary appeal from denial of a new petition (pages 544, 549).
Why the new LCA did not replace an amended I-129
The AAO treated DOL certification and USCIS petition review as sequential steps. After DOL certifies an LCA, the employer must submit the corresponding LCA to USCIS with the new or amended H-1B petition. Without that submission, page 546 explains, “the process is incomplete.”
Geography mattered because the prevailing wage is tied to the area of employment. The original Long Beach LCA listed a prevailing annual wage of $50,232, compared with $59,904 in Camarillo and $59,613 in Hoboken. The AAO explained that moving the work could affect whether the wage was sufficient and therefore whether the employee remained eligible for H-1B employment. This was more than a mailing-address update (page 548 and footnote 10).
Providing the new LCA during revocation proceedings did not supply the missing amended petition. Footnote 11 on page 549 explains that the LCA needed to accompany an amended or new petition before work at the new locations would be permitted. Because that ground resolved the case, the AAO did not reach additional issues in the record (page 549, footnote 12).
Today's rule separates filing from authorization to start
Current 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(h)(2)(i)(E) requires an amended or new petition for material changes in employment terms or eligibility, with the required fee and applicable DOL documentation. For H-1B employment, paragraph (E)(2) expressly requires proper filing “before the material change(s) takes place.” Ordinarily, work under the changed terms must wait until approval and its effective date, unless the beneficiary qualifies for H-1B portability under paragraph (h)(2)(i)(H). A filing receipt alone therefore cannot be treated as authorization for every employee to start the changed arrangement.
The relevant documents should establish one consistent timeline: where the original approval covered work, where work will actually occur, what area the corresponding LCA covers, when the amended petition was properly filed, and when work under the new terms is authorized. Calling an arrangement a client assignment, remote work, or an internal transfer does not resolve whether it is material.
Not every address change requires an amended petition
When there are no other material changes, current paragraph (E)(2) provides location exceptions for moves within the same area of intended employment, qualifying short-term placements, and specified non-worksite activities. 20 C.F.R. § 655.715 defines the area through normal commuting distance, without a universal mileage cutoff. Metropolitan statistical area boundaries are not the sole dividing line in every situation. Applicable LCA notice and other obligations still require attention within the same area.
A distant assignment does not qualify simply because it is called business travel. 20 C.F.R. § 655.735 limits short-term placements through conditions involving days worked, ties to the permanent worksite, wages and travel or lodging expenses, whether an applicable LCA already exists in the area, and other requirements. Non-worksite activities also have specific definitions. In Simeio, the employer did not claim—and the AAO did not find—that either new location fit those exceptions (page 547, footnote 8).
Simeio shows why the actual work location and its legal consequences should be established before coordinating the LCA and USCIS filings. It did not declare every interstate move, home office, or client-site assignment unlawful. Revocation followed the particular geographic changes, wage differences, and failure to file an amended petition established in this record.
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