USCIS and VIBE

Mainly for the I-140 the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is now doing a new internet based check. It’s called Validation Instruments for Business Enterprise or VIBE. Through an Independent Service Provider, the USCIS can check the following information :



Business activities, such as type of business (North American Industry Classification System code), trade payment information and status (active or inactive)
Financial standing, including sales volume and credit standing
Number of employees, including onsite and globally
Relationships with other entities, including foreign affiliates
Status, for example whether it is a single entity, branch, subsidiary or headquarters
Ownership and legal status, such as LLC, partnership or corporation
Company executives
Date of establishment as a business entity
Current physical address
The USCIS is using Dun and Bradstreet to check this information. It is resulting in irritating Request for Information (RFE) about the location of the Company. D & B uses data from incorporation etc to maintain its database about companies. And they don’t update this information. Thus even though we submit tax documents etc which has verifiable information like addresses which match the I-140, the RFEs are still being sent out. In some cases the RFE refers to addresses that the Company has never used. D & B denies ever putting up the information. In another case, we had an RFE that basically had nothing to do with the D&B report of the Company, yet the RFE started with the D&B language. I guess the officers are using that template so often, that it crops up in almost all RFEs. And officers are just dong the checks and hitting the RFE button, instead of actually looking at the petition submitted.



The RFEs are also saying, “ USCIS does not require you update your record with D&&B” But yeah, do so now. Businesses may not want their information to go public, and give their competitors access to their information. Yet it seems if you sponsor a foreigner, you might have to. Big Brother dictating? You bet. Mr. Obama, aren’t you a constitution expert? What about the rule of law?



For more information contact Houston Immigration Lawyer or Houston Immigration Attorney, Annie Banerjee