Cyrus D. Mehta, Aug. 13, 2018 - "The USCIS finalized its unlawful presence policy for F, J and M nonimmigrants on August 9, 2018. The final policy makes no significant changes from the draft policy of May 10, 2018. My earlier blog noted the flaws in the draft policy, which persist in the final policy. The final policy incorrectly breaks down the distinction between violating status and being unlawfully present in...

By Patricia A. Smith Beginning on May 16, 2011, employers will be required to comply with a rule issued by the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that modifies the list of identity and employment authorization documents necessary to complete the Form I-9 employment eligibility verification process. Employers should review the new USCIS policies and ensure that their hiring...

By Dawn Lurie and Kevin Lashus Attorneys from Greenberg Traurig's Business Immigration & Compliance practice group have written a piece on what the costs are of using E-Verify to check whether employees are permitted to work in this country. This piece can help attorneys advise clients on an important decision, because an increasing number of local, state, and federal officials are expanding the need to at least...

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a case from Louisiana concerning workers' compensation benefits for an injured worker who was an illegal alien, and whether the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 preempts state law awards of workers' compensation benefits to illegal aliens. Should illegal immigrants be allowed workers' compensation for injuries sustained on the job? The U...

By Jennifer Hermansky, Associate, Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer, LLP USCIS has published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register that would establish an H-1B electronic pre-registration system for cap-subject employers. The purpose of the pre-registration system is to alleviate USCIS’ administrative burdens and to alleviate employer costs associated with preparing and filing H-1B petitions...

As the world economy expands with increasing global connections, we find that more and more of our clients operate in foreign locations or hire foreign workers. There are a number of statutes and rules to be aware of, both on a State and Federal level, when hiring foreign workers. We provide a summary of issues and areas to think about if your company is moving into this arena. When hiring foreign workers in-state...

The Government Accountability Office recently issued an interesting report on the controversial H-1B program, which allows temporary "specialty workers" to come to the United States. For example, on pages 20-30, the authors discuss the possible impact of the limit on numbers of H-1B workers and the costs of getting an H-1B visa on employers' decisions to station work out of the United States. The GAO then...

Murrieta and Temecula Join Growing List of Southern California Cities Requiring Employers to Use E-Verify By Mahsa Aliaskari and Matthew Hayes Greenberg Traurig's Business Immigration team has written this commentary on recent developments in California that require employers who do business in several municipalities to participate in E-Verify. These ordinances are part of the trend of state and municipal...

There was a recent development in the debate as to whether aliens not authorized to work in this country -- or perhaps not even to be here -- can recover for legal wrongs. The local appeals court for the District of Columbia decided in Asylum Company v. District of Columbia Department of Employment Services, 2010 D.C. App. LEXIS 732 (Dec. 23, 2010) [ enhanced version available to lexis.com subscribers / unenhanced version...

By Michael Marinelli and Maggie Murphy, Greenberg Traurig LLP Starting in December, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS, formerly INS) will require employers who are sponsoring foreign national workers for certain work visas to certify that they have made an export licensing determination regarding each employee sponsored. More specifically, employers will have to certify that they have evaluated the...

By William A. Stock, Partner, Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer, LLP The Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals released a decision November 16 that is the biggest thing since HealthAmerica ( 2006 BALCA LEXIS 168 , where the employer mistyped the date in the Form ETA-9089, so it seemed that a required Sunday ad was published on another day) and creates a whole analytical framework around the issue of what’s...

Two additions to the debate on whether immigration is a net positive or negative for the United States have come out recently that are worth looking at. Ron Hira of the Economic Policy Institute wrote a paper issued October 14 ( http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp280/ ). Its title is The H-1B and L-1 Visa Programs: Out of Control. The month before, the Brookings Institute had a conference on immigration. The transcript...

by Dawn Lurie and Christina Pitrelli Greenberg Traurig's Business Immigration and Compliance Group discusses some interesting problems that come up with the new Puerto Rican birth certificates. In particular, does it conflict with the federal REAL ID Act of 2005? It would seem so. How does an employer handle a Puerto Rican driver's license marked "Not for Identity Purposes" when filling out an I-9...

As previously reported ( 15 Bender's Immigr. Bull. 1071 (Aug. 1, 2010 )* and 15 Bender's Immigr. Bull. 467 (Apr. 1, 2010) )*, all Puerto Rico birth certificates issued prior to July 1, 2010, have been invalidated and the Vital Statistics Record Office has begun issuing new, more secure, certified copies of birth certificates to all Puerto Ricans, including those living in the United States. On September 9, 2010...

Yesterday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) issued a press release announcing a settlement with retailer, Ambercrombie & Fitch, involving a fine totaling $1,047,110 for violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Although limited details were released, the ICE stated that the violation was related to an employer's obligation to verify...

"This study was prepared by Stuart Anderson for the Labor, Immigration & Employee Benefits Division of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Council on International Personnel. The motivation for this report was the need to collect and disseminate objective data on the economic impact of hiring foreign talent to work in the United States as well as shed some light on some of the misinformation that has...

By Daniel M. Kowalski, Attorney, The Fowler Law Firm PC Pundits, bloggers and talking heads are spending far too much time obsessing over irrelevant aspects of USA v. Arizona , the federal government’s lawsuit against SB 1070, Arizona’s immigration control bill, set to take effect in late July 2010, unless enjoined by a federal court. These sideline aspects include racial profiling, the political effect...

WASHINGTON – The United States Department of Justice yesterday filed a lawsuit against Garland Sales Inc., a rug manufacturer and seller located in Dalton, Ga., alleging it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination by imposing unnecessary and discriminatory hurdles to employment for work authorized individuals. According to the department’s findings, Garland required all non-U.S. citizen applicants...

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has filed its annual report to Congress on the numbers and characteristics of "H-1B" visa petitions in Fiscal Year 2009 (October 1, 2008 - September 30, 2009). H-1B visas cover several hundred distinguished fashion models and special employees for the Department of Defense, but the vast majority -- over 200,000 -- are for "specialty workers." Specialty workers...

By Mahsa Aliaskari, Of Counsel, Greenberg Traurig, LLP Since the end of last year, there have been several reports that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have placed increased scrutiny on individuals entering at U.S. ports in H-1B status. Reports of CBP officers questioning individuals regarding the specifics of the employee's job duties and the validity of the job offer circulated throughout immigrant...

By Rebecca Schechter and Laura Foote Reiff, Attorneys, Greenberg Traurig, LLP The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has issued new guidance regarding requirements for H-1B petitioners just in time for the 2011 H-1B cap. USCIS' January 8, 2010, memo "Determining Employer-Employee Relationship for Adjudication of H-1B Petitions, Including Third-Party Site Placements" (" H-1B...