Paylocity Immigration Integration Guide

Paylocity is one of the most widely used HR and payroll platforms among U.S. employers. For companies sponsoring foreign workers, it functions as the operational backbone for Form I-9, E-Verify, work authorization tracking, and payroll records tied to visa compliance. Connecting Paylocity to a structured immigration program keeps employee data consistent between HR, payroll, and legal workflows, which matters more than ever under 2026 enforcement conditions. This guide walks HR and People Ops teams (and the sponsored employees they support) through what a Paylocity immigration integration looks like, the 2026 compliance rules that drive it, and how an attorney-led platform like Alma plugs in.

Paylocity Immigration Integration: Complete Breakdown

Integration is less a one-time project and more an ongoing program covering onboarding, sponsorship, reverification, and offboarding. Based on practitioner experience, mid-market employers commonly complete setup in roughly 4-8 weeks, with the biggest variables being worksite count, E-Verify state requirements, and how many sponsored employees already live in Paylocity with incomplete visa data.

Phase 1: Pre-Integration Assessment

Before configuring anything, HR, Legal, and hiring managers align on what the integration needs to do. The assessment typically runs 1-2 weeks and centers on three inputs: data already in Paylocity, data in the immigration attorney's case system, and the gaps between them.

What HR documents:

• Sponsored population inventory: Headcount by visa type (H-1B, L-1, O-1, TN, E-3, STEM OPT, EAD holders), worksite, and upcoming expiration dates. As an operational matter, anyone expiring in the next 180 days is commonly prioritized, a window that aligns with H-1B's six-month forward-filing eligibility under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(9)(i)(B) and prudent EAD-renewal lead time.
• Current Paylocity setup: Whether I-9s are captured electronically, whether E-Verify is enrolled, how work authorization dates are stored (custom field versus free text), and who has edit permissions.
• Worksite inventory: Every physical and remote hiring site, because E-Verify participation and the I-9 alternative remote-examination procedure under 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(1)(ix) both operate at the hiring-site level.
• Handoff map with Legal: Who sends what to whom, and when, for new hires, extensions, and terminations.

Roles between HR and the employee. HR controls Paylocity user roles, I-9 workflow configuration, E-Verify participation per site, LCA posting (physical or electronic), Public Access File retention, payroll coding that matches the LCA wage, and reverification alert scheduling. The employee handles Section 1 of Form I-9 on or before the first day of work, the choice of acceptable List A/B/C documents, accuracy of personal details, and timely notification to HR about travel, renewals, or EAD category changes.

Phase 2: System Configuration and Data Mapping

Once the assessment is done, HR configures Paylocity and the team decides how data flows to the immigration partner (native API, marketplace connector, or unified HRIS middleware).

Core Paylocity configuration checkpoints:

• I-9 Section 1: Triggered automatically when a candidate moves to hired status. Employees complete it no later than their first day of work, per USCIS Section 1 rules.
• I-9 Section 2: Completed within three business days after the employee's first day of employment, per 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(1)(ii)(B). For employees hired for less than three days, Section 2 must be completed no later than day one.
• E-Verify participation per worksite: Required at sites in states with E-Verify mandates and at any site offering the alternative remote-examination procedure. Cases must be created no later than the third business day after the employee starts work for pay, per the E-Verify User Manual §2.2.
• Work authorization custom fields: Structured fields for visa type, I-94 expiration, I-797 validity end date, EAD category and expiration, and LCA end date. Free-text fields make reporting unreliable.
• Reverification triggers: Automated alerts at 180, 90, and 30 days before expiration. The 30-day alert is the one that typically forces the attorney handoff.

Immigration data flowing between systems:

• Paylocity to immigration partner: Legal name, DOB, worksite address, job title, wage rate, standard hours, supervisor.
• Immigration partner to Paylocity: Petition validity dates, LCA start and end, case status updates, approval notices.
• Paylocity to immigration partner (termination): Separation date and last day worked, which triggers petition withdrawal.

Phase 3: Activation and Workflow Testing

Activation is where integrations either hold up or break down. Running 1-2 live cases end to end before switching the entire sponsored population over is a common practice.

Recommended testing sequence:

• Dry run with an existing H-1B extension: Pick someone due for renewal in 4-6 months. Export their Paylocity record, confirm wage, title, and worksite match the petition, and have the attorney flag inconsistencies.
• New hire test: Use the next sponsored hire to test the full loop: I-9 Section 1 day one, Section 2 within three business days, E-Verify case creation by the third business day after start of work for pay, LCA wage matching payroll.
• Reverification test: Move a test record's EAD expiration forward and confirm the 180/90/30-day alerts fire correctly.
• Termination test: Run an offboarding for a sponsored employee and confirm Paylocity signals petition withdrawal to the immigration partner.

Pro tip: The most common activation failure is worksite coding. If Paylocity lists a remote employee at the main office but the LCA was filed for a different Metropolitan Statistical Area, the LCA does not cover the actual location and the Public Access File requires updating before the employee continues H-1B work at that site.

Why Paylocity Integration Matters for Employer Immigration Programs

Eliminating Duplicate Data Sources

Most mid-market teams run three parallel trackers: Paylocity for payroll, a spreadsheet for visa expirations, and whatever the immigration attorney uses. Each duplication is a chance for the three sources to drift, and drift is what shows up as an audit finding. An integrated setup means the same wage, worksite, and expiration date appear in all three places because only one system is the source of truth.

Keeping Pace with 2026 I-9 Enforcement

On March 16, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement updated its public Form I-9 Inspection fact sheet to expand the substantive-violation list to roughly 28 categories, reclassifying as substantive several errors previously treated as technical under the 1997 Virtue Memorandum framework. That update narrowed the pool of errors eligible for the no-less-than-10-business-day technical-correction window under INA §274A(b)(6)(B)(ii). Combined with the substantive penalty range of $288 to $2,861 per form, a Paylocity workflow that validates required I-9 fields before submission is one of the cheapest compliance controls available. Per INA §274A(b)(3) and 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(2)(i)(A), Forms I-9 must be retained for three years after the date of hire or one year after the date employment ends, whichever is later.

Tracking Work Authorization Expirations

Employees on EADs, H-1Bs, L-1s, O-1s, and TNs all have hard expiration dates employers must track. A missed reverification turns a previously authorized employee into an unauthorized one the day after their document expires. Paylocity's compliance dashboard supports expiration tracking, and when tied to the immigration platform, the attorney sees the same clock HR sees, so extensions are filed early.

How to Monitor Your Paylocity Immigration Workflow

Paylocity Compliance Dashboard

The compliance dashboard is the day-to-day monitoring view. It surfaces I-9 records with missing fields, work authorizations needing reverification, and policy acknowledgments not yet signed. For an integrated immigration program, this is where HR confirms every sponsored employee has a valid I-9, a coded visa type, and an expiration inside the tracking window.

Public Access File Maintenance

Employers sponsoring H-1B, H-1B1, or E-3 workers must maintain a Public Access File per DOL LCA program rules. LCAs are filed through the FLAG system no earlier than six months before the start of the period of intended employment, per 20 CFR 655.730(b). Per 20 CFR 655.760(a), the PAF baseline contents are:

• The certified LCA (Forms ETA-9035/9035E/9035CP), signed and dated.
• The wage rate to be paid to the H-1B nonimmigrant.
• A full explanation of the actual-wage system used to set wages for similarly employed workers.
• Prevailing-wage source and methodology.
• Posting and notice documentation. Per 20 CFR 655.734, notice must be posted at two or more conspicuous places at the worksite for a total of 10 days, or made electronically available for a total of 10 days (or, in lieu of 10-day electronic availability, a single individual e-mail sent directly to each affected employee in the occupational classification at every covered worksite, within the 30-day pre-filing window).
• A summary of benefits offered to U.S. workers in the same occupational classifications.

Additional documentation is required for corporate restructurings, "single employer" determinations, and H-1B-dependent or willful-violator employers (20 CFR 655.760(a)(7) through (a)(10)).

Paylocity can store the electronic copies, but the physical availability requirement at the employer's principal place of business still applies, so most employers keep a printed copy at HQ alongside the digital record.

Note: The PAF must be available to any requester within one working day after the LCA is filed with DOL. Retention runs for one year beyond the last date any worker was employed under that LCA, or one year from LCA expiration or withdrawal if no workers were employed under it. Payroll records carry a separate three-year retention obligation.

Integration Health Checks

A quarterly check confirms Paylocity wage and title match the LCA for every sponsored employee, every I-9 has a completed Section 2, and no reverification alert was skipped. Tentative Nonconfirmations follow tightly defined timelines: 10 federal government working days for the employer's referral and the employee's notice of intent to contest, and 8 federal government working days for the employee to contact DHS or visit an SSA field office after referral, per E-Verify Tentative Nonconfirmations guidance. A quarterly cadence catches drift before an ICE Notice of Inspection arrives with a three-business-day production window, per 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(2)(ii).

Paylocity After Sponsorship Begins

LCA Wage Coding and Posting

When an H-1B, H-1B1, or E-3 petition is filed, the underlying LCA triggers employer obligations that Paylocity data feeds directly. The wage attested on the LCA must be at least the higher of the actual wage paid to similarly employed workers or the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment. Paylocity's payroll coding must reflect that wage from the first pay period the employee starts sponsored work. The signed, certified LCA must be delivered to the worker by the start date.

Reverification Workflows

Employers reverify employment authorization before it expires using Supplement B of the current Form I-9 (01/20/25 edition; the 08/01/23 edition remains usable through July 31, 2026), per USCIS Form I-9 guidance. DHS's October 30, 2025 Interim Final Rule (90 FR 48799) eliminated the up-to-540-day automatic EAD extension for renewal Forms I-765 filed on or after that date, so many employees no longer have an automatic grace period. Paylocity's 180/90/30-day alerts should drive the extension filing calendar, not the other way around.

Termination and Petition Withdrawal

When a sponsored employee is terminated, the Paylocity offboarding workflow triggers three actions:

• Update the I-9 record with the separation date.
• Notify the immigration partner so the petition withdrawal can be filed with USCIS.
• For H-1B workers terminated before the end of the authorized period, document the offer of return transportation costs required under DOL regulations.

Filing the withdrawal ends the employer's wage obligation and the period of authorized employment.

Employment-based audits (I-9, LCA, PERM) typically arrive with a three-business-day production window. Paylocity reports should be pre-built for active sponsored employees by visa type, I-9s by site, EAD and I-94 expirations in the next 365 days, and wage history for any employee on an active LCA. Pre-built reports turn a 3-day scramble into a 30-minute export. (Case processing times for petitions filed with USCIS are now presented uniformly across service centers; current figures are published at https://egov.uscis.gov/processing-times.)

What About Dependents and Multi-State Tracking?

Dependents (H-4, L-2, O-3, TD, and E-3D or E-3S, the latter being the post-January 30, 2022 CBP annotation for E-3 spouses) are not on the employer's payroll and do not appear in Paylocity, but they still matter to employer programs. H-4 spouses can apply for an EAD if they meet 8 CFR 274a.12(c)(26) eligibility (the H-1B principal has an approved I-140, or is in AC21-extended H-1B status). Since October 30, 2025, H-4 EAD renewals no longer benefit from the automatic extension under prior 8 CFR 274a.13(d). L-2 and E-3 spouses are work-authorized incident to status under USCIS's November 12, 2021 policy, evidenced by an L-2S or E-3S annotated Form I-94, and do not need a separate EAD to work. Tracking these expiration clocks inside the immigration platform (not Paylocity) prevents the common failure mode where a spouse's work authorization lapses quietly.

Multi-state employers also need to know which states require E-Verify and which do not. As of April 2026, roughly ten states mandate E-Verify broadly for private employers; about a dozen require it only for public contractors; California restricts compelled use, and Illinois imposes notice and use limits. A Paylocity worksite inventory reconciled against current state rules at least annually keeps the E-Verify footprint aligned with where the company actually hires. The alternative remote-examination procedure under 8 CFR 274a.2(b)(1)(ix) is only available at sites where the employer participates in E-Verify in good standing, and must be offered consistently to all employees at that site.

Why Choose Alma for Paylocity-Integrated Immigration Programs

Most traditional immigration firms were built around paper files and email, which makes integrating with a modern HR platform slow and manual. Alma was built as an attorney-led, tech-enabled platform from day one, so connecting Alma to Paylocity looks more like linking two modern systems than grafting a law firm onto a payroll tool. Read how Alma works with growing and enterprise teams, including founders, engineers, and cross-border transfers.

Transparent flat-fee pricing: Alma publishes per-visa fees including H-1B Cap or Cap-Exempt at $3,500, H-1B Extension at $3,000, L-1 Initial or New Office at $6,000, TN New (USCIS or Border/Consulate) at $3,000, O-1 New at $8,000, and I-140 (PERM-based) at $4,000. HR can build an annual budget that maps cleanly to a Paylocity headcount plan.

RFE responses included: Unlike firms that bill separately for RFE work, Alma's flat fee includes responses to Requests for Evidence.

One free refile for Growth and Enterprise: Per the pricing page, Growth and Enterprise clients receive one free refile on an initial denial or comprehensive RFE per matter.

Flexible billing: 50/50 payment plans (half upfront, half as the case progresses) and volume discounts for companies managing larger foreign national populations, with preferred rates for portfolio companies of partners like Y Combinator, Techstars, and Pear VC.

Bi-weekly status calls with the lead attorney: Included in the case fee, so HR and the employee get the same attorney throughout rather than rotating associates.

Quality focus: Industry-high approval rate sustained through structured case building and RFE avoidance, direct attorney communication alongside 24/7 portal visibility, and clear timelines with proactive status updates.

The practical result: the same employee record that drives payroll drives the visa petition, the same expiration date on the compliance dashboard triggers the extension filing, and the same attorney who filed the original case handles the renewal.

Schedule a consultation to map out what a Paylocity integration looks like for a sponsored population.