All employers sponsoring aliens for H-1B visas must make an attestation to the U.S. Department of Labor as to whether they are an H-1B Dependent Employer. Employers make this attestation on form ETA-9035. Whether an employer is a H-1B Dependent Employer is determined based on the ratio between the employer’s total work force in the U.S. (including both U.S. workers and H-1B visa holders) and the employer’s H-1B employees. An employer is a H-1B Dependent Employer if:
i. it employs twenty-five or less full-time equivalent employees and it employs eight or more H-1B visa holders;
ii. it employs twenty-six but not more than fifty full-time equivalent employees and it employs thirteen or more H-1B visa holders; or
iii. it employs H-1B visa holders equal to at least fifteen percent of its full-time equivalent employees.
Full-time equivalent employees includes only person employed by the employer and does not include bona fide consultants or independent contractors. Employers who are H-1B Dependent must make additional attestations that they will not displace qualified U.S. workers from their workforce, that they will not displace qualified U.S. workers from another employer’s workforce, and that they will recruit and hire U.S. workers who are equally or better qualified than the H-1B visa holders.