If you sponsor H-1B workers, 2026 is not the year to let compliance run on autopilot. Between the $100,000 supplemental fee now attached to new H-1B petitions, the Department of Labor’s Project Firewall initiative, and expanded data-sharing between DOL, USCIS, EEOC, and DOJ, the margin for error has narrowed considerably. The employers getting burned right now are rarely the ones cutting corners on purpose. They are the ones who assumed a process from three years ago still applies. Here are five traps I am seeing trip up otherwise careful employers.
1. Shifting the Premium Processing Fee to the Employee
As of March 1, 2026, the premium processing fee under 8 CFR 106.4 is $2,965. When an employer requests premium processing for its own business reasons, such as project timing or staffing continuity, that cost belongs to the employer. Full stop. Passing it to the worker is only permissible when the employee independently requests expedited processing for personal reasons, and even then, the payment cannot drop the worker’s wages below the certified Labor Condition Application (LCA) rate. Cross that line, and you are looking at back-pay liability plus civil penalties that can reach $9,624 per violation.
2. Letting the Public Access File Lapse
The Public Access File, or PAF, still trips up employers who treat it as paperwork rather than a living compliance record. Under 20 CFR 655.760, the file must exist within one working day of filing the LCA and stay available for inspection at the worksite. It needs the certified LCA, the wage rate and methodology behind it, prevailing wage documentation, notice evidence, and a benefits summary. A basic PAF violation runs $2,364; a willful one climbs to $9,624; and if a U.S. worker was displaced in the process, penalties can reach $67,367 per violation.
3. Underestimating Project Firewall
Launched by DOL in September 2025, Project Firewall pulls in analytics and referrals from EEOC, DOJ, and USCIS to flag LCA irregularities before a worker ever files a complaint. It is looking for underpayment against the certified wage, unpaid nonproductive time, posting failures, and daylight between the job duties in the petition and the work actually being performed. Investigations can open without any complaint at all, and the exposure includes back wages, penalties up to $67,367, and a spot on the H-1B Willful Violators List for one to three years.
4. Missing a Step in a Bona Fide Termination
This is the one that catches good-faith employers off guard. Under 20 CFR 655.731, the obligation to pay the LCA wage does not end when you walk the employee out the door. It ends when you complete a bona fide termination, which under the controlling Amtel Group case means three things: clear written notice to the employee, notice to USCIS so the I-129 petition can be withdrawn, and a documented offer of return transportation to the worker’s last country of residence. Miss any one of these after an involuntary termination and wage liability can keep accruing even though no work is being performed. Worth noting: this obligation attaches to dismissals, not to a genuine voluntary resignation, so know which one you actually have before you decide what paperwork is owed.
5. Ignoring a Material Change Without Amending the Petition
USCIS’s Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate has ramped up unannounced site visits in 2026, and they are not just checking the sign on the door. Expect worksite inspections, interviews with management, and direct questions to the H-1B worker. The most common misstep is failing to file an amended I-129 after a material change, such as a move to a different Metropolitan Statistical Area, a significant change in duties, or a substantial compensation shift. The amendment has to be filed before the change takes effect, not after. Get caught with an unreported material change, or decline to cooperate during a visit, and you are risking petition revocation, an ICE referral, and civil penalties on top.
The thread running through all five of these is the same: the rules did not necessarily change overnight, but the enforcement environment did. Employers who built their compliance habits in a quieter era are the ones most exposed now. If any of this sounds close to home, it is worth a compliance check-up before DOL or USCIS runs one for you.