How to Check an Employer's H-1B and LCA Filing History

You have an offer letter in hand, or a vendor on the bench call is telling you they will sponsor your H-1B transfer. Before you sign anything, you can check that employer's actual filing record using two free federal databases. No recruiter spin, no LinkedIn reviews, just raw government data.

This takes twenty minutes. Most consultants never do it, then discover six months into a project that the sponsor's filing pattern was always a little off.

Two Public Sources, Two Different Questions

There are exactly two primary sources worth your time, and they answer different questions. Confusing them is where most people go wrong.

An LCA certification and an H-1B petition approval are two separate government actions, decided by two separate agencies, for two separate forms. Treat them as independent data points, not confirmation of each other.

Step-by-Step: Pulling LCA Records from DOL OFLC

1. Go to the Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) Performance Data page and find the Disclosure Data section for the H-1B program.
2. Download the quarterly or annual disclosure file for the fiscal year you care about. These are published as Excel or CSV files sorted by filing date.
3. Filter the spreadsheet by employer name. Large employers file under slight name variations (legal entity name, DBA, parent company), so search broadly first.
4. Look at the CASE_STATUS column. You want to see whether the LCA was Certified, Certified-Withdrawn, Denied, or Withdrawn.
5. Check the WORKSITE, PREVAILING_WAGE, and WAGE_RATE_OF_PAY fields for the job title and location you are being placed into. If the wage rate on your own offer is below the prevailing wage listed for comparable filings, that is worth a direct question.

Remember: an LCA is the employer's sworn attestation to DOL about wage and working conditions for a specific role and location. DOL certifies the attestation is complete and internally consistent. It does not verify the employer actually has the job, actually hires for it, or ever files the H-1B petition that would use it.

Step-by-Step: Reading the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub

1. Go to the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub on uscis.gov.
2. Search by employer legal name or by NAICS industry code if the exact legal name is unclear.
3. Review the results broken out by fiscal year, showing counts of initial approvals, initial denials, continuing approvals, and continuing denials.
4. Compare several fiscal years side by side. A single bad year can be noise. A multi-year trend is signal.
5. Note that the Data Hub reports aggregate counts tied to a legal employer entity. It does not list individual beneficiaries, job titles, wages, or worksites, and it does not distinguish staffing/consulting placements from direct-hire roles.

What This Data Does Not Prove

Both sources are valuable precisely because they are limited. Know the limits before you draw conclusions.

• LCA certification is not petition approval. An employer can certify dozens of LCAs and file far fewer I-129 petitions, or none at all, for a given role.
• The Data Hub counts petitions, not quality of employment. A high approval rate tells you USCIS adjudicators were satisfied with the paperwork. It says nothing about bench pay practices, how the employer handles non-productive time, or how placements are managed between projects.
• Neither source shows your specific case outcome. You are looking at an employer's historical pattern, not a forecast of what happens with your own petition.
• Wage and hour enforcement is a separate dataset entirely. If you want enforcement history (back wage findings, violations), that lives with the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, not OFLC or USCIS.

Three Patterns Worth Raising Before You Sign

You are not trying to disqualify every employer with an imperfect number. You are trying to ask better questions before you commit your status to them.

1. High LCA volume, low petition volume. If an employer certifies many LCAs at a worksite but the Data Hub shows comparatively few H-1B petitions filed over the same years, ask directly how they decide which certified LCAs actually convert to filed petitions, and what happens if yours doesn't.
2. Rising denial share in recent fiscal years. If the ratio of denials to approvals has grown noticeably, ask who handles their RFE responses, whether they use in-house counsel or an outside immigration firm, and what their timeline looks like if your petition draws an RFE.
3. Frequent worksite or role changes implied by repeated LCA filings for similar titles. A change in worksite can trigger a requirement to file an amended H-1B petition, not just a new LCA. Ask how the employer handles amendments when a consultant moves between client sites, and who is responsible for filing them.

This is general information, not legal advice. Immigration rules and agency practices change, and your own facts matter. Confirm anything specific to your case with a licensed immigration attorney before you make a decision.

A Short Checklist Before You Sign

• Pulled the employer's LCA disclosure records for the relevant fiscal year
• Compared your offered wage to the prevailing wage and wage rate fields
• Checked the Data Hub for at least three recent fiscal years of approvals and denials
• Asked the employer directly about amendment practice for worksite changes
• Asked who prepares and defends the petition if USCIS issues an RFE

The Josh Pros LLC team works with consultants weighing exactly these questions every week, across H-1B transfers, PERM and I-140 cases, STEM OPT, L-1, TN, and E-3 placements. If you want a second set of eyes on an offer or a filing pattern, email contact@joshpros.com or visit https://joshpros.com.

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This is general information, not legal advice. Immigration rules change and outcomes depend on your individual circumstances. Confirm anything that affects your case with a licensed immigration attorney.

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