H-1B visas are not allowed to easily switch employers and job sites. There are plenty of regulations affecting the H-1B workers. Working from home may qualify as a switch in a worksite location and may be deemed as an H-1B immigration violation.

The limitations regarding the work location are related to the LCA (Labor Condition Application). Every LCA specifically documents the job site location of every H-1B worker. The short answer to can someone on H-1B work remotely is

depends…

There are some specific requirements if you want to work remotely on an H1B Visa. The requirements are related to the LCA posting.

The general rule for the H-1B visas is that each H-1B visa petition is filed for a specific location within one Metropolitan Statistical Area. If your house is outside of the Metropolitan Statistical Area listed in your filed and approved H-1B visa petition, you cannot work from home as of yet.

There has to be an amended petition filed. The amendment petition must reflect your home address. Once filed, you can begin working remotely or moving to a different place to work remotely from there. The filing is not a complicated process. The filing can be done pretty quickly to allow you to work from home or switch locations. Download Skylex to talk to one of our immigration lawyers now. 

Once your home location is listed as a worksite location in the LCA and a pending H-1B amendment, you can work from home. When you return to working from office (whether temporarily or permanently) , a new H-1B petition may not be required. An LCA and H-1B petition may have several locations listed as worksite locations. That is why it’s important to consult with the best immigration lawyers who know how to save money and trouble down the road.

Please note that your home or second work location must not be one immediately near the employer’s office. The second location may even be in a different state. All locations just need to be properly identified in the H-1B petition.

If you want to transfer your H-1B to a different employer and start working and your employer does not know exactly when you will be working from home and when in the office, the process is the same. All worksite locations need to be listed in the H-1B transfer petition.

H-1B salary while working from home. 

It is possible that your H-1B prevailing wage at your office may be different from the prevailing wage at your house. If your current salary is lower, then your employer will have to increase your salary to meet the requirements of the new prevailing wage. If your salary is already higher than the prevailing wage at the new location, then no adjustment or separate filing is needed.

For any questions, please download our app and write your question there. We have a Legal Help line that will address all your immigration related questions.

Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Redwood City, CA.