The H-1B visa category is one of the most used visa classifications by US employers and is available to professionals that will work in a specialty occupation that generally requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.

Last year, the number of H-1B visa petitions filed in the first 5 days exceeded the entire H-1B visa allotment.  Hundreds of employers were unable to hire all the foreign-based professional talent that they required, and their petitions went into a lottery pool, left to chance and uncertainty.

Given that we are seeing improvements in the economy, it is anticipated that this filing season will be the most competitive one in many years.  Just to review…There is a limit of 85,000 H-1B visas available each fiscal year, 20,000 of which are reserved for individuals who have graduated with an advanced degree (a master’s or higher degree) from a US college or university that is  accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association. Pre-accreditation status is also acceptable. Secondly, the school must be a public or other nonprofit institution. If these requirements are not met, the candidate will not qualify for the master’s degree exemption. It is also to be noted that employers stand a stronger chance obtaining advanced degree petition approvals, even if the position being offered only requires a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.

Our position is that it’s just not too early to start assessing where you’d like to add personnel and to start working with your immigration provider on such important matters as:

1)  Credential evaluations for prospective employees with foreign degrees

2)  Thorough job descriptions indicating the percentage of time spent on core areas of the position

3)  Needed updates to your corporate stats and profile information

4)  Updating intake questionnaires for H-1B employees

5)  For new employers who have previously not filed H-1Bs and are not in the databases accessed by government agencies, be prepared for a request to submit to the Department of Labor iCERT system for Labor Condition Applications (LCA) a copy of your IRS letter confirming your EIN number.  It is also not unusual for them to request your corporate formation documents before they will certify your LCA.  H-1B petitions will be denied if not accompanied by a certified Labor Condition Application.  It might be advisable to file your LCA’s in late January or February even though this will shorten a few months from the 3-year initial approval.

If the prospective employee is a national of Canada, Mexico, Australia, Singapore or Chile you have other options to consider.  Canadian and Mexican professionals qualify for TN status (pursuant to Trade NAFTA).  You can file anytime of the year under this classification; there are no quotas, applicants can apply right at the border, and the 3-year period of stay can be extended indefinitely.  Here is a link to the list of occupations that qualify for TN classification.

Australian nationals are eligible for E-3 status in 2-year increments and can consular process their applications, with unlimited extensions available.  A Labor Condition Application is required for these cases.  Nationals from Singapore and Chile qualify according to Free Trade Agreements for the H-1B1 classification.  There is a quota for this category that has never been reached.

If you are contemplating the hire of a professional who currently holds H-1B status with another employer, they are exempt from the quota and can start working for you immediately even though the petition is pending approval.

We encourage employers to call us with any questions that you might have or if you’d like to retain our firm to handle your H-1B filings.  Our email: info@immigrationcompliancegroup.com or by phone 562 612.3996.

Back in October of this year, President Obama stated “Immigration reform may not pass, but that’s no reason to give up the fight.”

The pro-immigration reform movement has united in a strong front and is the most broad and diverse that we’ve ever observed. The strategic and impassioned outcry from immigration activists are being heard in the hallways of Congress, in state offices across the country, groups fasting for immigration reform, holding prayer vigils, outbursts taking place in the middle of President Obama’s speeches, protestors chaining themselves to gates of federal buildings, and more –  a full court press on the GOP. “The immigration reform movement has emerged as a relentless force that is prepared to hold all parties accountable in 2014,” states Julia Preston in her NY Times article. 

The Background

In June 2013, the Senate passed their version of Comprehensive Immigration that doesn’t please everyone, but its passage was a victory for those who have been working on the issue for years and watched immigration reform fail many times over. It addresses undocumented immigrants, legal immigration, border security, employer hiring and an entry-exit system so the government knows if foreign nationals leave the country when their visa expires. The path to citizenship is long — 13 years or more — and arduous, but advocates are pleased that it would exist at all, given opposition from many Republicans and the failure of bills to carve out such a path in the past. Dreamers, young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, would be able to earn green cards in five years, as would some agricultural workers. The bill adds huge increases in border security that catered to unsure Democrats and Republicans.

Although 3 out of 4 Americans want Congress to pass immigration reform with a path to citizenship, Speaker John Boehner and the House Republican Leadership are using stalling tactics and excuses to block reform from getting a vote on the House floor. There’s been no progress – total gridlock in the House of Representatives, while we’re told repeatedly that they are approaching CIR in a piecemeal manner and that all the individual bills will eventually be rolled into one comprehensive bill.  The president recently commented, “If they want to chop that thing up into five pieces, as long as all five pieces get done, I don’t care what it looks like.”  We ask, when will his happen?  Sadly, not this year. 

The question is will the Tea Party continue to set the agenda for the House GOP?   Mounting frustration with the Tea Party may lead mainstream Republicans to move forward on immigration reform without them.  In order for the GOP to win Hispanic and Asian voters, it is mandatory that they address the broken immigration system. There has been little to no (and at times incredibly awkward, contradictory and antagonistic) outreach and messaging to the immigrant community by the Republican Party. At this point in time, there is fear that if 11 million are granted citizenship, they’ll vote Democratic.  We will have to see how this continues to play out moving into 2014.

Recently, On December 3, 2013, Speaker John Boehner announced the hiring of Rebecca Tallent to serve as immigration advisor in his office. Tallent worked as a staffer and later as Chief of Staff for Sen. John McCain. She left McCain’s office earlier this year to become the immigration policy director for the Bipartisan Policy Center where she also chaired the organization’s immigration task force.  She’s helped draft amnesty bills for Sen. McCain in the mid-2000s and, in her role at the Bipartisan Policy Center, helped develop an immigration framework that includes amnesty for illegal aliens and massive increases in legal immigration. Her new appointment in Speaker Boehner’s office does send a positive signal that he’s laying the ground work to pass massive immigration reforms in 2014.  However, NumbersUSA President Roy Beck said. “His new hire has done almost nothing the last decade except work for giant increases in foreign labor. But Boehner still has to persuade at least 118 Republican House Members that their constituents would be okay with an expansion of immigration.  We are hopeful that the appointment of Rebecca Tallent will play an essential role in lifting immigration reform over the finish line in early 2014.

More reading…

Video:  “Congress Fails to Tackle Immigration Reform”

Immigration Reform Advocates Descent on Capitol HIll; visiting 200 Offices

Other Articles on Immigration Reform

On December 8, 2013 E-Verify will release new and revised Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) that are tailored to each access method.

The changes were made in response to customer feedback and to update the MOUs with policy and process changes. Users will find that the new versions have more plain language and are easier to understand, with new titles that clearly identify the access method to which the MOU applies, and bullets that have been changed to letters and numbers to make searching and citation easier. Also, the lengthy sections have been broken up.

Please take the time to review and become familiar with the new MOU’s that apply to your access method; refer to the Fact Sheet and the preview of the new MOUs here. You can also access this information under “View Essential Resources” by logging into E-Verify to review the new and revised MOUs.

What you need to know

• Current E-Verify users will not be required to execute a new MOU, but are bound by any and all enhancements to the E-Verify program including the new or revised MOUs that apply to their access method. Current users should become familiar with the new or revised MOU that applies to them.  The effective date of the MOU for existing users is January 8, 2014.
• The E-Verify enrollment process has not changed.  New Users will review and execute the new or revised version of the MOU that applies to their access method during enrollment.  The effective date of the MOU for new users is December 8, 2013.
• The new and revised MOUs include several updated provisions such as enhanced privacy protections and instructions for reporting privacy and security breaches.

 Revised Memorandums of Understanding

• E-Verify Employer Memorandum of Understanding (June 2013)
• E-Verify Employer Agents Memorandum of Understanding (June 2013)
• Employers using an E-Verify Employer Agent Memorandum of Understanding (June 2013)

TeleConferences

 Two teleconferences will be hosted by USCIS to introduce and discuss the revisions schedule as follows: 

 1)     For General Audience:  December 11(Wed.) 2:30 – 3:30 EST.  Will discuss the revisions made to the existing MOU’s and will open up for Questions.  Register here 

2)     For E-Verify Users:  December 12 (Thurs.), 2:30 – 3:30 EST.  USCIS officials will provide an overview of the three new MOUs for Web service participants, and be available to answer questions. Register here

If you have any questions regarding the registration process, or if you have not received confirmation email within two business days, please email us at Public.Engagement@uscis.dhs.gov.

Infosys is India’s second largest software exporter, and has about 30,000 workers in the U.S. (160,000 worldwide) with $6B in sales.

After years of investigation, it was found that Infosys “knowingly and unlawfully” brought Indian workers into the United States on B-1 business visitor visas( since 2008), to circumvent  the higher costs and delays of a longer-term employment-related visa, such as the H-1B visa that the workers should have had.  It was found that Infosys systematically submitted misleading information to US immigration authorities and consular officials to obtain the B-1 visas that do not permit employment, unfairly gaining a competitive edge and undercutting American workers qualified for the jobs

Press release states: “Infosys failed to maintain I-9 records for many of its foreign nationals in the United States in 2010 and 2011 as required by law, including a widespread failure to update and re-verify the employment authorization status of a large percentage of its foreign national employees…more than 80 percent of Infosys’s I-9 forms for 2010 and 2011 contained substantive violations.”

The largest fine of its kind, was paid out as follows: $5 million to Homeland Security Investigations, $5 million to the Department of State, and $24 million to the DOJ.

How can employers protect themselves?

The five federal agencies charged with workplace enforcement are not only going after businesses that are known to employ undocumented workers, but they are also making examples out of industry leaders across the country creating headline news. It goes without saying, that this is now a topic that should be on HR executives’ action list.  Turning a blind eye can be exceedingly costly and cause great damage to a company’s reputation.

For more on this Story:  CBS Reports   NY Times

For more on our services and solutions

E-Verify has resumed operations following the federal government shutdown. All E-Verify features and services are now available.

The following information addresses questions on how the federal government’s shutdown affected E-Verify and Form I-9.

Information For Employers

Form I-9

The Form I-9 requirements were not affected during the federal government shutdown. All employers must complete and retain a Form I-9 for every person hired to work for pay in the United States during the shutdown.

E-Verify

Employees who received a Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC)

If an employee had a TNC referred between September 17, 2013 and September 30, 2013 and was not able to resolve the TNC due to the federal government shutdown, add 12 federal business days to the date printed on the ‘Referral Letter’ or ‘Referral Date Confirmation.’ Employees have until this new date to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) or the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to resolve their cases. If you have an employee who decided to contest his or her TNC while E-Verify was unavailable, you should now initiate the referral process in E-Verify. Employers may not take any adverse action against an employee because of a TNC.

Employees who received a SSA Final Nonconfirmation (FNC) or DHS No Show result

If an employee received a Final Nonconfirmation (FNC) or No Show because of the federal government shutdown, please close the case and select “The employee continues to work for the employer after receiving a Final Nonconfirmation result,” or “The employee continues to work for the employer after receiving a No Show result.” The employer must then enter a new case in E-Verify for that employee. These steps are necessary to ensure the employee is afforded the opportunity to timely contest and resolve the Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC) that led to the FNC result.

Creating Cases: Three-Day Rule

You must create an E-Verify case for each employee hired during or otherwise affected by the shutdown by November 5, 2013. If you are prompted to provide a reason why the case is late (i.e., does not conform to the three-day rule), select ‘Other’ from the drop-down list of reasons and enter ‘federal government shutdown’ in the field. Federal Contractor

Deadlines

During the federal government shutdown, federal contractors could not enroll or use E-Verify as required by the federal contractor rule. If your organization missed a deadline because E-Verify was unavailable or if it has an upcoming deadline for complying with the federal contractor rule, please follow the instructions above and notify your contracting officer of these instructions.

Information For Employees

If the federal government shutdown prevented you from contesting a Tentative Nonconfirmation (TNC), you will be allowed additional time to contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If your TNC was referred between September 17, 2013 and September 30, 2013, and you were not able to resolve the mismatch due to the federal government shutdown, you should:

• Add 12 federal business days to the date printed on the ‘Referral Letter’ or ‘Referral Date Confirmation’ that your employer provided you after you contested the TNC. Federal business days are Monday through Friday and do not include federal holidays.
• Contact SSA or DHS by the new date to resolve your TNC.

If you received a Final Non-Confirmation (FNC) because you could not contact DHS or SSA during the federal government shutdown, or because you could not contact DHS or SSA in the first ten days after the government reopened, please contact your employer and request that the employer re-enter your query. For more information about contesting your TNC or FNC, please refer to Employee section of the E-Verify website.

Customer Support

E-Verify Customer Support expects an increase in requests for assistance. Due to this increase, customers may experience longer than normal delays and response times. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For any questions or additional information about how the federal shutdown affects E-Verify, please email E-Verify@dhs.gov. For questions about Form I-9, please visit I-9 Central or email I-9Central@dhs.gov. Employers and employees may also contact E-Verify at 888-464-4218. Customer Support representatives are available Monday through Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm local time.

If you would like to become a client of our office or have any questions psertaining to this blog post, please give us a call.

On June 15, 2012, President Obama signed a memo calling for deferred action for certain undocumented young people who came to the U.S. as children and have pursued education or military service here. Applications under the program which is called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) began on August 15, 2012. Individuals that meet particular criteria, are awarded employment authorization (a/k/a an “EAD Card”) by USCIS.

USCIS does not alert employers when EAD cards have been issued to existing employees, and the employee is under no obligation to present the document to the employer. However, should they do so, the employer is obligated to examine the document. 

The Attached Fact Sheet identifies the employer’s obligations during the Form I-9 process and provides specific guidance to employers on the treatment of EADs issued by USCIS to DACA recipients, whether they be current employees who come forward on their own, or new hires.

Note that DACA guidance does not direct employers to perform E-Verify queries on current employees who present DACA work authorization.  Rather, it states that employers should complete a new Form I-9 and perform an E-Verify query in certain situations involving material changes to identity information.  More on this topic can be found in the new M-274 Handbook on pages 23-24.

Should you like to become a client of our office or have particular questions pertaining to this topic, please feel free to contact us.

USCIS has indicated that not all SSA documents referring to the ownership of the SSA account or reflecting an application for a new card, are valid receipts for the I-9 process.  So, what constitutes a valid SSA replacement receipt?

The only receipt from SSA that is acceptable under the receipt rule is a receipt that states “This is a receipt to show you applied for a social Security Card and the application was for a lost, stolen or damaged document.”  Any other receipt would not be acceptable.  Your employee may present a receipt for the application for the replacement of any List A, List B, or List C document. The receipt is valid for 90 days. When it expires, the employee must show you the replacement document for which the receipt was given.

After the receipt expires, you should:

1) Cross out the word “receipt” and any accompanying document number

2) Record the number and other required document information from the actual document presented.

3)  Initial and date the change.

You cannot accept a receipt for the I-9 Form for an initial or renewal employment authorization, but can accept a receipt for the application for replacement of a lost, stolen or damaged employment authorization document. You cannot accept receipts if employment will last less than three days.

The Three-Day Business Rule

Q:  How does an employer that is operational over the weekend but whose HR office (which is open during regular business hours but closed on weekends) count the 3-business days for I-9 purposes?

A:  Employers are required to complete the I-9 Form within 3 business days of the employees first day of work for pay.  If the business is operational on the weekends, this counts towards the 3 day timeframe for I-9 completion.  Thus,  in order to remain in compliance for businesses that operate on the weekends, we suggest that the first day of work for pay be on a week day when the HR office representatives who are trained in I-9 procedures are available.

The question of whether “N/A” may or must be entered in non-applicable fields, or whether N/A is sometimes required and sometimes optional – is a question we’ve all been wondering about.  Here’s recent guidance on the topic . . .

If the passport number and country of issuance fields in Section 1 do not apply, the employee MUST write “N/A.”  If all else fails, follow the instructions!…In essence that’s the recent guidance – read the instructions when determining if an N/A response is required as it states when an employer or employee may use N/A or must use N/A.  Failing to provide a response in a required field may be considered a verification violattion (yes, it’s true!).

Not to belabor it, but this is another very good reason for providing the instructions to the employees when they are filling out Section 1 and deciding which documents to present in the I-9 process. It would be advisable for the employer representative to also have a copy of the instructions on their desk

The I-9 Instructions:  http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf

How have you been dealing with the “N/A” requirement so far?  No judgements – let us hear from you.

Answers to questions from April 2013 by the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (AILA) to USCIS Verification Division/Washington, DC re the new I-9 Form, its Instructions, the M-274 Handbook and the I-9 Central website have finally been answered.  We will be featuring several of the Q&A’s this week and trust that you will find this both enlightening and informative.

Today, we deal with new name change directives and guidance – Page 23 of the Employer Handbook.  In the case of a divorce, it is recommended even where there is no rehire or reverification in order that the employer’s actions are well documented if the government asks to inspect your Forms I-9.

Question:  Can USCIS Verification confirm that the only time an employer is required to record a legal name change is in connection with a rehire or reverificaton?  In addition, does USCIS intend, by its advice to take steps to be reasonably assured of the employee’s identity and the veracity of the employee’s claim of a legal name change to require female employees to produce marriage licenses or divorce decrees after a change in marital status?  To what extent has Verification discussed this change in guidance with OSC or the EEOC to ensure that it is not inconsistent with anti-discrimination provisions?

Answer: Page 24 of the Employer Handbook contains new guidance for employers dealing with a situation where a current employee comes forward with documentation of a new identity.  The Handbook states that the employer should complete a new I-9 form, list the original hire date, and provide a written explanation of the circumstances giving rise to the new I-9-.  Although we agree that completion of a new I-9 may be the best practice in certain circumstances, requiring employers to complete a new I-9 for existing employees who provide updated identity documentation appears to be at odds with the statute and regulations that require an I-9 only upon “hire.”

The legal basis for the guidance in the Handbook in certain circumstances is based on the INA that refers to the prohibition against continuing to employ an alien knowing that they are unauthorized to work.

An example of this might be presentation to the employer of a new Social Security Card reflecting a new Social Security number and new name which raises material questions as to the identity of the employee, the veracity of information on Form I-9, the genuineness of any documents presented in Section 2 that contain a Social Security number, and the relation of these documents to the person who presented them.  The employer can no longer reasonably rely on the Form I-9 to be assured that the individual is authorized to work.  In this scenario, USCIS suggests completion of a new Form I-9 to ensure the employee is eligible to continue in employment.  This is a suggestion, and not a requirement.

Our office agrees with this position and recommends filling out a new I-9 form.  Should you have any questions concerning this guidance, please contact our office at Info@immigrationcompliancegroup.com or call 562 612.3996.

Wall Street Journal (09/12/13) Article Reprinted in Staffing Today

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has notified 1,000 companies across the country that they must submit employment verification documents for audits. This is the largest audit since July 2009. The audits target restaurants, food processors, high-tech manufacturers, the agriculture sector, and other industries that cumulatively employ tens of thousands of workers.

The audits will not lead to deportation of illegal workers, but those workers will lose their jobs, which critics point out can drive immigrants to exploitative, off-the-books work. They can also cause lost productivity and result in large fines and the loss of employees to competitors. ICE typically requests Forms I-9, worker rosters, and payroll stubs, then issues notices of suspect documents to employers, which inform their workers they must either produce legal documentation or quit. More than 10,000 employers have been audited in the past four years. The audits have grown more intense, and ICE now requests not just basic paperwork but weekly work schedules, names of managers, lists of temporary staffing firms used, and the company’s articles of incorporation.”

This is certainly NOT what you want to take place in your company. If you know that you are overdue for an I–9 audit (whether full or partial), or require additional training or should have your policies and procedures examined in light of recommended best practices, being proactive will always be your best defense. So, do not procrastinate. We’d be glad to work with you toward this end.  You contact us at info@immigrationcompliancegroup.com or by calling 562 612.3996.

Reprint here:  http://staffingtoday.net/2013/09/13/