Do you have the “Vibe?”

When I first heard about “VIBE,” I thought my colleague was joking.  It turns out it is real and the word as used by Immigration is not short for vibration or groove.  “VIBE” stands for Validation Instrument for Business Services Enterprises.  In 2012, United States Immigration and Citizenship Services (“USCIS”) contracted with Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) to be the sole verification provider of commercially business information.  Through the VIBE tool, USCIS will validate whether the information contained on petitions filed by businesses or for beneficiaries of business related petitions, is accurate.  Your company information must be exist in D&B’s data base if you wish to have your petition approved.
How do I get my business information in D & B’s database?
The first step before filing any type of business related petition is to verify that the U.S. company’s information is in the D & B database.  D & B has created a streamlined process for those doing business with the U.S. government to verify their information.  This process first requires a U.S. business to obtain a “D-U-N-S” number from D & B’s website.  This will take one day or so.  Once you obtain the number, you may create, update and view basic elements of your company’s D & B report without being subject to direct marketing from D&B.  This link and process is only available for U.S.-based, privately held companies.  U.S.-based publicly traded companies, government entities and foreign companies wishing to create, update or view their report with D&B may use D & B’s main website ; however, they may be subject to direct marketing from D&B.
What if my business is not listed with D & B?
If your business information is not listed in D & B’s database and you file your petition, you can expect to receive a Request for additional evidence (“RFE”) from USCIS.  They will not approve your petition regardless of how much information you provide them about the legitimacy of your U.S. based business unless they can verify the information in VIBE.  Thus it is in your best interest to verify that the information is there before you file.  USCIS will not deny a petition without giving the petitioner a chance to respond to a RFE.  It is not enough that a business has obtained an employer identification number or has filed taxes with IRS.  These activities may then cause the information about a business to be included in D & B’s database, but not necessarily.  You must verify yourself to be sure.
When USCIS established VIBE they thought that the creation of it  would result in petitioners not having to submit so much information about the business – because they could verify it on VIBE.  This has not been true.   USCIS still requests duplicate information to the information that they can verify in VIBE.  You still must submit information about the legitimacy of the U.S. based business to support  your petition.  Although VIBE was a great idea initially, in reality, it has not saved U.S. petitioners any time or money by allowing U.S. petitioners to submit less.