In This Issue

Interested in pursuing higher education and looking for the best possible place to do so? Look no further than Canada. Canada offers a world-class education and welcomes many international students every year. But why should you choose Canada? Canada offers something different - the country's immigration system actually strives to keep international students in Canada after they have completed their education. Why train and educate someone and then send them home? It doesn't make sense, but that is exactly what some countries are doing. Not Canada. While studying in Canada, you may apply for a part-time work permit, to assist you financially while you are studying in Canada, and most importantly, upon completion of your studies, you can apply for and receive an open work permit, valid one year for each of your studies in Canada, up to a 3 year period. This open work permit will allow you to work for any employer of your choosing and gain valuable North-American experience in your field. Then, upon completion of at least one year of work experience in Canada, you may be eligible for applying for Permanent Residence in Canada under the Canadian Experience Class, which I will touch on next month. Stay tuned for my next article and make the smart choice - Canada.



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It's not very often you really get to tell the government what you think...This new online tool - available from Feb.6-March 19th (better hurry!) at www.dhs.gov/open - allows members of the public and interested stakeholders to submit ideas and suggestions on ways DHS can enhance transparency, participation, collaboration and innovation-while saving taxpayer money. On Dec. 8, 2009, President Obama issued the Open Government Directive to begin breaking down long-standing barriers between the federal government and the people it serves, and instructed agencies to take immediate, specific steps to open their doors and data to the American people. Agencies across the federal government will begin engaging the public through similar online tools.



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The prevailing wisdom in Washington has been that the way to earn public support for allowing this country's approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship is for the federal government to vigorously prosecute violations of immigration law. The thinking is that this will convince Americans that reform is warranted.

With the enforcement only climate of George W. Bush and now the Obama Administration, the result is a monumental caseload overwhelming the nation's immigration courts. (They are not courts in the usual sense, and do not belong to the judicial branch of government. Rather, judges are employees of the attorney general.) In 2008, for example, 231 judges completed an average of 1,200 proceedings each, and the numbers keep climbing. The work is "like holding death penalty cases in traffic court," Dana L. Marks, an immigration judge in San Francisco and the president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges, told the New York Times.

A recent report by the American Bar Assn. calls for making the court system independent of the Justice Department to reduce "public skepticism" and increase respect, and paints a harrowing picture in which final decisions are rushed, haphazard and inconsistent. At times the outcome of removal proceedings depends less on the facts of an immigrant's case than on which judge hears the case, the report says. It calls for hiring 100 additional immigration judges as soon as possible, adding new training and requiring more written, reasoned decisions from judges.

Many of the recommendations in the report would require congressional approval. Others should be afforded careful consideration by the Department of Homeland Security. The ABA, for example, calls on DHS personnel to use prosecutorial discretion and stop clogging the system by hauling non-citizens into court needlessly even if they are entitled to remain and claim legal permanent resident status, and litigating cases after the facts make removal unlikely. For the report, we link to here

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DHS recently announced its intention to publicly display information on businesses using E-Verify on searchable areas of its website. Evidently, this information is allowed under the terms noted in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which must be executed by all employers enrolling in the E-Verify program. A careful read of the MOU reveals that an employer must agree that E-Verify is not confidential information and may be disclosed as authorized or required by law and DHS or SSA policy, including but not limited to, Congressional oversight, E-Verify publicity and media inquiries, determinations of compliance with Federal contractual requirements, and responses to inquiries under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The disclosure of this information on the DHS web site falls under the very wide scope of DHS policy.

Some examples would be DHS posting an employer's registered business name, contact address, workforce size, employee verification option (all new hires or entire workforce), and overall E-Verify volume (# of queries). It is highly advisable that employers registering as federal contractors should be proactive in following all of the E-Verify rules, especially since their hiring activity and other information may now be subject to increased public scrutiny.

We link to this announcement here.

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People in every workplace talk about building the team, working as a team, and my team, but few understand how to create the experience of team work or how to develop an effective team. Belonging to a team, in the broadest sense, is a result of feeling part of something larger than yourself. It has a lot to do with your understanding of the mission or objectives of your organization.

In a team-oriented environment, you contribute to the overall success of the organization. You work with fellow members of the organization to produce these results. Even though you have a specific job function and you belong to a specific department, you are unified with other organization members to accomplish the overall objectives. The bigger picture drives your actions; your function exists to serve the bigger picture. Find out more about why team building is hard - yet achievable .

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Now is the time for prudent companies to implement a Corporate Immigration Compliance Program. Our firm's years of experience and knowledge with employer compliance and worksite enforcement issues can assist your business in offsetting the extent of sanctions and other ICE enforcement threats. Because of this, employer compliance is becoming more complex and enforcement (investigations and audits) is increasing.

In order to effectively deal with these issues and avoid the very severe consequences for non-compliance, employers must take the time to develop a strategy and be prepared in advance with an Immigration Compliance Program. Immigration Compliance Group has created a package of services and solutions to assist you with your compliance procedures that can be tailored to your specific needs and concerns - link

If you are not a client of our office and but wish to discuss your immigration needs, please contact us at info@immigrationcompliancegroup.com.

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