also require the filing of a Labor Condition Application: the H-1B1 status for nationals of Singapore and Chile, and the E-3 status for nationals of Australia. The concept of H-1B-dependence does not matter for LCAs of employees for these classifications. Moreover, employees in these categories do not count toward the thresholds for determining H-1B-dependence. Details around definitions and documentation Definition of full-time equivalent employee Since being classified as H-1B-dependent requires employers to incur additional cost and complexity, and the threshold for H-1Bs generally increases with the number of full-time equivalent employees reported (with the exception of the downward jump from 50 to 51) employers are incentivized to make their count of full-time-equivalent employees as large as possible. The regulations are therefore geared to restricting employers from overcounting the number of FTEs. The 2000 Interim Final Rule from the U.S. Department of Labor provided the following guidance regarding the definition of full-time equivalent employee for the purpose of determining H-1B-dependence. What counts as a United States employee To count as a United States employee, the person must be employed in the United States. United States employees include United States citizens and lawful permanent residents, as well as H-1B employees in the United States. For multinational firms, employees in other countries cannot be counted. In particular, this is important for multinationals because the ability to count employees outside the United States in the denominator could mean the difference between being classified as H-1B-non-dependent and H-1B-dependent. According to the official rules, the list of employees should be determined from the most recent quarterly tax statements unless these fail to include all employees. What counts as full-time Any employee who works 40 or more hours a week is treated as one full-time equivalent. An employee who works less than 35 hours a week cannot be treated as a full-time equivalent. Employees who work between 35 and 40 hours may be treated as full-time equivalent if this is accepted in the employer's regular course of business. For employees who are less than full-time, the employer can choose one of these two methods: Count each such employee as 1/2 of a full-time equivalent. Total the hours worked by each employee and divide by the employer's standard hours of full-time employment (which must be at least 35 hours). An employee who works more than 40 hours a week cannot be counted as more than one full-time equivalent.