Avoiding Form I-129 to exhibit discrepancies

The I-129 is usually completed by a paralegal from an intake questionnaire. The support letter is drafted by an attorney from a conversation with the employer. The LCA is filed weeks earlier, sometimes by a different team. The employer's HR system supplies a job title that may differ from both.

Nobody is careless. The documents simply have different sources and different timestamps, and no step in the process compares them line by line.

Wage is first. The offered wage on the I-129 must be at or above the prevailing wage on the LCA, and the figure in the support letter must match. A mid-process salary adjustment that reaches the offer letter but not the petition is a common and entirely avoidable conflict.

SOC code and job title come next. The occupational classification on the LCA has to be consistent with the duties described, and the title should be stable across the LCA, the I-129, the support letter and the offer letter. Then worksite address, petitioner legal name and FEIN, and dates of prior stay reconstructed from I-94 history.

• Offered wage: I-129 vs LCA vs support letter vs offer letter.
• SOC code and wage level: LCA vs duties described.
• Job title: consistent across all four documents.
• Worksite address: LCA vs I-129 vs end-client letter.
• Petitioner legal name and FEIN: I-129 vs incorporation documents.
• Dates of prior stay: I-129 vs I-94 history vs prior approvals.

A final human review catches some of these, but not reliably — by the time a senior attorney reviews the packet they are reading for legal sufficiency, not comparing a FEIN against an incorporation certificate.

The check belongs immediately before filing, applied mechanically to every matter, comparing every draft form field against the exhibits that should corroborate it. It is dull work, which is exactly why it should not be done by a person.