Paycom Immigration Integration Guide

Paycom is a single-database human capital management (HCM) platform used by thousands of U.S. employers for payroll, onboarding, document management, and compliance. For immigration, Paycom covers the employment eligibility layer: Form I-9 completion, E-Verify, and document retention. It does not prepare visa petitions, file with USCIS, or provide attorney representation. This guide explains what Paycom covers as of April 2026, where the gaps are, and how employers and sponsored employees can pair Paycom with Alma to cover every stage of the visa process.

Paycom Immigration Features: Complete Breakdown

Paycom consolidates HR, payroll, onboarding, and document storage inside one system. For immigration-adjacent compliance, that consolidation helps with employment eligibility and reverification, but stops short of the legal work required for visa sponsorship.

What Paycom Handles: Employment Eligibility Layer

• Form I-9 Section 1 and 2 completion: Employees complete Section 1 electronically during onboarding, and supervisors complete Section 2 within the required three business-day window. Retention follows the federal rule of three years after hire or one year after termination, whichever is later.
• E-Verify participation: Employers can run verification cases against the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify system directly from the onboarding flow. This satisfies state-level E-Verify mandates, Federal Acquisition Regulation E-Verify clauses for federal contractors, and the prerequisite for using the alternative remote Section 2 procedure that became effective August 1, 2023 under the DHS final rule at 88 FR 47990.
• Supplement B reverification (formerly Section 3): Effective with the 08/01/2023 Form I-9 edition, USCIS moved former Section 3 content to a standalone Supplement B for Reverification and Rehires. Paycom's Documents and Checklists tool lets HR assign reverification tasks tied to the expiration of Employment Authorization Documents, Forms I-94, or other work authorization documents, reducing the risk of an unlawful-continuation finding under INA section 274A(a)(2) (the "continuing employment" provision).
• Self-onboarding before Day 1: Within Paycom's Onboarding product, new hires can complete I-9 Section 1, upload personal data, and review policies before their start date. This is useful for foreign nationals arriving on a specific visa start date (for example, H-1B cap workers starting October 1).
• Global HCM access in 190+ countries: Paycom supports workforce management across international subsidiaries, with native payroll processing in four countries (Canada, Ireland, Mexico, and the United Kingdom) and third-party payroll integrations elsewhere. This can help document the cross-border employment history relevant to L-1 intracompany transfers.

What Paycom Does Not Handle

• No attorney services. Paycom does not employ immigration attorneys. Strategy, evidence development, petition drafting, and USCIS communication all fall outside its product.
• No USCIS form generation or filing. Form I-129, I-140, I-485, I-765, I-131, or ETA-9089 cannot be produced, filed, or tracked inside Paycom.
• No LCA or Public Access File support. H-1B, H-1B1, and E-3 sponsorship requires filing a Labor Condition Application with the Department of Labor and maintaining a Public Access File within one working day of LCA filing under 20 CFR 655.760(a). Paycom does not automate or track these obligations.
• No PERM workflow. Prevailing wage determinations, supervised recruitment, and recruitment reports sit entirely outside Paycom.
• No USCIS case status integration. Receipt numbers, RFE notices, and adjudication milestones must be tracked through the USCIS case status portal or an external immigration platform.
• No immigration-impact change alerts. Paycom records changes to job title, worksite, salary, and corporate structure but does not flag when those changes trigger an H-1B amendment, new LCA, or PERM refile.

Why the Immigration Gap in Paycom Matters More in 2026

Relying on a general-purpose HR platform for any part of the legal workflow creates exposure that Paycom's toolset alone cannot absorb.

I-9 Enforcement and Penalty Increases

DHS adjusted I-9 civil penalties for inflation effective January 2, 2025, and OMB Memorandum M-26-11 (April 17, 2026) preserved those amounts through 2026 because the federal appropriations lapse from October 1 to November 12, 2025 prevented the Bureau of Labor Statistics from producing the October 2025 CPI-U data required for the annual adjustment.

Penalty ranges in effect as of April 2026:

• Paperwork violations: $288 to $2,861 per Form I-9.
• Knowing-hire, first offense: $716 to $5,724 per worker.
• Knowing-hire, second offense: $5,724 to $14,308 per worker.
• Knowing-hire, third or subsequent offense: $8,586 to $28,619 per worker.
• E-Verify and post-Final Nonconfirmation compliance violations: separately published in ICE's I-9 Inspection Fact Sheet and adjusted under the same January 2, 2025 DHS rule.

A single audit covering 50 employees with paperwork errors can generate six-figure exposure before any knowing-hire findings are added. Paycom's I-9 and E-Verify tools help prevent most new-hire paperwork risk, but they cannot prevent the larger category of risk that comes from mismanaged visa sponsorship, such as continuing to employ a worker whose H-1B has expired while a late extension is being prepared.

H-1B Wage-Level Weighted Lottery

USCIS moved to a wage-level weighted H-1B selection system, first applied during the FY 2027 cap registration period (March 4 to 19, 2026). Cap-subject registrations tied to higher prevailing wage levels receive proportionally higher selection odds, which changes how employers evaluate which roles and worksites to sponsor. The change does not affect H-1B extensions, amendments, or cap-exempt petitions. Paycom stores internal salary information but does not benchmark it against the DOL prevailing wage for the specific Standard Occupational Classification code and area of intended employment. That benchmarking is sourced through the DOL's Foreign Labor Certification data or an immigration attorney.

PERM Processing Delays

Per DOL FLAG processing data, PERM analyst review averages approximately 501 calendar days and audit review averages 343 days (PERM table as of April 23, 2026), with the agency adjudicating cases filed in January 2025 (analyst) and December 2025 (audit). Any error in the underlying recruitment or documentation that forces a refile can add a full year or more to an employee's green card timeline. Prevailing wage determinations for PERM are processing cases filed in January 2026 (PWD table as of April 9, 2026).

Paycom's I-9 and document tools help employers avoid new-hire paperwork fines, but every employer-sponsored visa category requires work that sits outside Paycom.

How Alma Works Alongside Paycom

Alma is a dedicated immigration platform that runs in parallel with Paycom. Paycom manages the employment lifecycle. Alma manages the immigration lifecycle. The two operate together so employee data flows cleanly and neither HR nor the foreign national employee has to re-enter information.

The Integration in Practice

Alma integrates with leading HRIS tools including Workday, ADP, UKG, Gusto, BambooHR, and Rippling, with broader connectivity to 60+ HRIS and ATS platforms via partner integrations that can include Paycom, as listed on Alma's business platform page. For employers using Paycom, this means job title, job location, salary, start date, and corporate entity data can flow into Alma's immigration workflow without re-keying. Consistent data reduces RFE risk, since USCIS officers scrutinize discrepancies between petition narratives and corporate records.

Sponsored employees access a dedicated Alma portal for document upload, case tracking, and direct attorney communication, independent of their Paycom access for payroll and HR tasks.

What Alma Provides That Paycom Does Not

• Attorney-led case management across all major visa types: H-1B, H-1B1, O-1A, O-1B, L-1A, L-1B, TN, E-2, E-3, EB-1A, EB-1B, EB-1C, EB-2 NIW, EB-2 PERM, EB-3, and adjustment of status filings.
• Published flat-fee pricing: Transparent upfront costs with no hourly billing. RFE responses, administrative charges, consultation calls, and platform access are included in the fee.
• Guaranteed two-week preparation timeline: Compared to four to eight weeks at many traditional firms.
• Compliance dashboards and proactive alerts: Visa expiration reminders, LCA compliance monitoring, and audit-ready record keeping, sitting alongside (not duplicating) Paycom's Documents and Checklists.

Alma's published attorney fees by visa type:

• H-1B lottery registration: $500
• H-1B cap or cap-exempt: $3,500
• H-1B extension, change of employer, or amendment: $3,000
• O-1 new petition: $8,000
• O-1 extension, change of employer, or amendment: $3,000
• L-1 initial or new office: $6,000
• L-1 extension: $3,000
• L-1 initial company blanket: $8,000
• L-1 under approved company blanket: $3,000
• TN new (USCIS or border/consulate): $3,000
• E-3 or H-1B1 new (USCIS or consulate): $3,500
• EB-1A, EB-1B, EB-1C: $10,000
• EB-2 NIW: $10,000 (or $7,000 when paired with an approved O-1; the same discount applies to EB-1 filings)
• PERM labor certification: $8,000
• I-140 (PERM-based, EB-2 or EB-3): $4,000
• Adult adjustment of status bundle (I-485, I-765, I-131): $2,000
• Consular green card processing: $2,500

USCIS filing fees are separate government costs. Third-party costs such as credential evaluations and translations are billed separately. Alma also offers a 50/50 payment plan.

Once onboarded, employee data flows from Paycom into Alma's secure system, which automatically organizes documents, indexes exhibits, and pre-populates USCIS forms. A dedicated attorney reviews the case within 48 hours, then the petition goes through initial attorney review, senior attorney quality check, and final technical review for consistency. Alma's attorneys draft recommendation letters, legal briefs, and evidence packages tailored to each visa category, supporting Alma's guaranteed two-week preparation timeline. Schedule a demo at tryalma.com/businesses.

Visa-by-Visa Workflow: Employer and Employee Responsibilities

Each employer-sponsored visa category carries distinct obligations. Paycom records the employee's status and stores documents; the actual preparation and filing happens outside Paycom through an attorney or platform. Below is a practical breakdown of who handles what for the most common categories.

H-1B Specialty Occupation

Employer responsibilities: Registering the beneficiary during the annual March cap registration window if cap-subject; filing a Labor Condition Application with DOL; maintaining a Public Access File within one working day of LCA filing under 20 CFR 655.760(a); posting the LCA notice or providing electronic notice; paying the higher of actual or prevailing wage; filing Form I-129; and planning extensions or green card sponsorship before the six-year maximum.

Employee responsibilities: Working for the sponsoring employer in the approved specialty occupation and worksite; promptly reporting any title, salary, duties, or location changes so amendments can be filed; and following AC21 portability rules under section 105 (codified at INA section 214(n)) when changing employers.

O-1 Extraordinary Ability

Employer (or agent) responsibilities: Filing Form I-129 with the O classification supplement; obtaining a written advisory opinion from a peer group, labor organization, or management organization as generally required under 8 CFR 214.2(o)(5)(i)(A) through (C); providing a detailed itinerary where required; and continuing to employ the beneficiary in the role described.

Employee responsibilities: Providing evidence across the regulatory criteria, including awards, memberships, published material, judging the work of others, original contributions, scholarly authorship, critical employment, and high remuneration. Expert recommendation letters from individuals outside the employee's professional network strengthen the filing materially.

L-1 Intracompany Transfers

Employer responsibilities: Establishing and documenting the qualifying relationship between the U.S. and foreign entities; demonstrating the employee worked abroad at least one continuous year in the three preceding years; and, for new-office petitions, providing a business plan showing realistic staffing and revenue over the first year.

Employee responsibilities: Documenting managerial, executive, or specialized knowledge duties at the foreign entity; gathering supporting records such as organizational charts, performance reviews, and project documentation; and preparing for potential site visits, especially for L-1B and new-office L-1A filings.

EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver)

The EB-2 NIW allows self-petitioning without employer sponsorship, but employers still benefit when foreign national employees pursue this pathway.

Employer considerations: Recommendation letters and evidence of contributions strengthen the case. A filed or approved I-140 also enables H-1B extensions beyond six years under AC21: one-year increments if pending 365 days or more under section 106(a) and (b), or three-year increments with an approved I-140 when visa numbers are unavailable under section 104(c).

Employee responsibilities: The full burden sits with the self-petitioner. Evidence must show an advanced degree or exceptional ability, that the endeavor has substantial merit and national importance, that the petitioner is well-positioned to advance it, and that waiving the job offer requirement benefits the United States under the Matter of Dhanasar three-prong test, as supplemented by USCIS Policy Alert PA-2025-03 (January 15, 2025), which tightened evidentiary expectations and now requires threshold EB-2 eligibility to be established before the Dhanasar prongs are evaluated.

PERM and EB-2/EB-3 Green Cards

Employer responsibilities: Obtaining a prevailing wage determination from DOL; conducting and documenting a supervised recruitment campaign; filing Form ETA-9089 and maintaining audit-ready records; filing Form I-140 after certification; and preserving the offered position, worksite, and wage throughout the process. Any material change can invalidate the application.

Employee responsibilities: Meeting education, experience, and skill requirements exactly as stated on the PERM application; completing credential evaluations early for foreign degrees; and ensuring prior employment and qualifications are verifiable with no discrepancies between resumes, transcripts, and prior petitions.

Why Choose Alma Alongside Paycom?

Read real success stories from Alma's business immigration clients across H-1B, O-1, L-1, and employment-based green card categories.

Traditional law firms typically take four to eight weeks to prepare employer-sponsored visa petitions, often using junior associates for initial drafting and charging hourly rates with limited fee transparency. Alma's business immigration platform combines experienced attorneys with technology that automates document organization, form population, and deadline tracking, supporting a guaranteed two-week preparation timeline with flat-fee pricing.

The Alma difference for Paycom-integrated employers:

• Speed: Guaranteed two-week petition preparation versus four to eight weeks at many traditional firms.
• Transparency: Flat-fee pricing published upfront, with RFE responses, admin costs, and consultation calls included.
• Integration: Connectivity with Workday, ADP, UKG, Gusto, BambooHR, Rippling, and 60+ HRIS and ATS platforms via partner integrations that can include Paycom.
• Coverage: All major employer-sponsored and self-petitioned categories under one platform.
• Reliability: Industry-high approval rate for qualified cases, based on Alma's internal data, with dedicated attorneys who know each case directly.

Alma's plans are structured by foreign national population: Startup (0 to 25 foreign nationals), Growth (26 to 250), and Enterprise (250+). Volume discounts apply for larger populations, along with preferred rates for Y Combinator, Techstars, and Pear VC portfolio companies.

‍Schedule a consultation to add Alma's immigration services to your existing Paycom setup.