A Monthly Bulletin from Immigration Compliance Group -- December 2008
Introducing the Immigration Compliance Group Podcast
As you know, we work at bringing you the most up-to-date information possible in the most fluid manner – so we figured why not do weekly Podcasts and make our delivery of the news even more creative! Check it out by using the link below, or you can find us on iTunes, as well. This regular feature will allow us to bring you special guests, timely discussions and information in a new and entertaining way. If you’d like to suggest a topic or sponsor one of our Podcasts, please let us know.
Listen to the Podcast Here
Ways to Reach out during the Holiday
With the holidays approaching, we're sharing a story of inspiration that's focused not only on the fight against hunger, but also on the spirit of resourcefulness.
Stirring up change in the fight against hunger
Robert Egger, founder of the D.C. Central Kitchen, has an innovate approach to battling hunger in America. Using foods donated by restaurants, hotels and caterers, he runs a program that both teaches culinary skills to unemployed men and women and turns out meals for the homeless. See More Stories and View the Campus Kitchen’s Project.
Practical Compliance Strategies for HR Professionals -
Schedule your Interactive Audio Conference with Immigration Compliance Group
It can be difficult for employers to keep up with the ever-changing world of employment laws, regulations and court cases. Even if you have a fully staffed HR department, many points can go overlooked, such as conducting regular self-audits, which end up being bumped for more pressing needs.
The Truth: If you keep putting off a self-audit (such as with your I-9 forms), you could most certainly find yourself in the middle of a complex investigation or lawsuit some day that will take center stage very quickly, that could have all been avoided with some basic preventive maintenance.
The Solution: One of the most cost-effective and convenient ways to put an end to the chaos is an audio conference. You can participate right from your office and take on no travel costs at all. You can even have as many co-workers as you chose participate in the event. The conference is live, and you can ask questions by phone or email – and get an immediate response.
Contact Us: Don’t let the walls collapse around you! You never know when that certain phone call or letter will show up informing your organization you are in violation of employer compliance practices. Get prepared and organized and contact Immigration Compliance Group.
Please review our services and solutions and call or email us to schedule a consultation.
In This Issue
Article One - Expectations High Around the World for Obama
Article Two - Two Scholars Picked to Develop Immigration Plan
Article Five - Expectations & Trepidations at AILA Conference
Article Six - USCIS Implements Full Digitization Process
Article Seven - U.S. Dept. of Education Launches Free English Tutor Site
Article Eight - Homeland Security Publishes Final Rule in Flight Program
Article Nine - Party Leaders Agree Immigration Reform is Priority in 2009
Article Ten - Attorney's Do's & Dont's for PERM Job Applicant Interviews
Expectations High Around the World for President-Elect Obama
In a world sagging into an economic lull, and countries figuring out how to manage their losses and gains, the United States took a large step Nov. 4th in trying to change that. The people elected Sen. Barack Obama as their next president of the United States of America.
Madeline Albright, President Clinton’s former secretary of state, was recently asked her thoughts on the state of the country.
"Not in my lifetime," she answered. "I feel very strongly about this country, and what an exceptional, amazing country it is. But I honestly think this is about as bad as I've seen it."
Opinion polls have destroyed America’s reputation, and placing much of the brunt on a young, modest black man – the expectations are going to be quite high as President-elect Obama heads into office.
Last summer, opinion polls conducted in 22 countries placed Barack Obama ahead of John McCain by a four to one margin. Almost all said that if Senator Obama was elected, it would change their view of the U.S. completely.
For more information on the new president-elect:
Read this article from the BBC
2. Two Scholars Picked to Develop Immigration Plan
Last month, President-elect Obama announced several “policy working groups” of experts to help construct proposals on a variety of topics, most notably immigration.
On immigration, he picked Alexander Aleinikoff, dean of the Georgetown University Law Center and Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, a professor at Stanford Law School.
Aleinikoff has been dean of the Georgetown University Law Center and executive vice president of Georgetown University since July 2004. He has been a member of the Georgetown faculty since 1997. He served as general counsel and executive associate commissioner for programs at the Immigration and Naturalization Service for several years during the Clinton Administration. From 1997 to 2004, he was a senior associate at the Migration Policy Institute. He has written widely on immigration, refugee and citizenship law and constitutional law.
Cuellar is professor at Stanford Law School. His work focuses on how organizations manage complex regulatory, migration, international security, and criminal justice problems. During the Clinton Administration, he served at Treasury as senior advisor to the Under Secretary for Enforcement, where he worked on countering domestic and international financial crime, improving border coordination, and enhancing anti-corruption measures. He has served on the boards of numerous organizations. He has testified before Congress on immigration policy and separation of powers.
To read more about the scholars chosen to develop an immigration plan:
Read this article from The Border Line
3. Latinos Could Push Obama on Immigration
With President-elect Obama soon to take over the driver’s seat of the United States, Hispanics everywhere are excited about the chance of putting immigration reform back on the agenda come January 2009.
There are close to 12 million Hispanic migrants who live and work in the U.S. illegally, and the issue remains on what to do with them, and is dividing Americans.
When President-elect Obama backed a bipartisan bill last year supported by his rival Republican foe Sen. John McCain, Republicans defeated the bill as it was criticized that it amounted to “amnesty.”
Obama has said that he supports a more comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pledge to tighten border security and impose tougher penalties for employers hiring illegal immigrants. On a similar note, Hispanics who are U.S. citizens, 67 percent of whom voted for Obama, said the economy and war in Iraq are the most important issues, but immigration is expected become a top issue as well, according to analysts.
Latinos are the fastest growing minority group in the country, and accounted for about 9 percent of the U.S. electorate. That’s important to Democrats who are looking to change the overall face of immigration reform in the U.S. The controversy is biting, as hardliners think we should round them up and have all illegal returned to their country of origin. Obama and vice president-elect Joe Biden would have them pay a fine, learn English and head to the “back of the line” for the opportunity to become U.S. citizens.
For more information on the Latinos push on immigration:
Read this article from Reuters.com
4. Immigration Policy Center Launches New Blog
Immigration Impact was developed to help reshape the immigration debate in a way that will bring people closer to comprehensive immigration reform. The blog is expected to offer thoughtful insights on the latest news and events so that you can be kept up-to-date on immigration debates.
Writers expected to take part include Dr. Michele Waslin and Dr. Walter Ewing – two of the leading researchers and policy analysts in the immigration sector.
For more information on the new IPC Policy Blog:
Read this press release from the IPC.
5. Expectations & Trepidations in San Francisco: AILA Conference
By Brandon Meyer
Immigration Compliance Group Associate
I attended the 21st Annual AILA California Chapters Conference, held November 13-15, 2008 in San Francisco, California. Subtitled “Keeping the Golden Gate Open (Or are we headed for Alcatraz?),” the assembled panels and panelists discussed numerous issues related to business immigration.
The “Hot Topics” panel expressed optimism that comprehensive immigration reform (“CIR”) was highly probable in the forthcoming Obama Administration, based on their analysis of election results, which saw the defeat of several anti-immigrationists at the polls. Although the panel agreed that CIR was unlikely during the current lame-duck session of Congress, they believe that a window of opportunity will open sometime between the end of the current financial crisis and the 2010 Congressional elections.
The “Hot Topics” panel also discussed how the USCIS is working toward the creation of a company account system, which would allow companies to register with USCIS and update corporate information on-line. Designed to eliminate the need for companies to provide basic corporate information for every case they file, saving both company and USCIS resources alike, USCIS admits that implementation of this company account system remains a long-term project.
Furthermore, the “Hot Topics” panel discussed the implications of a recent USCIS report that estimated that 21% of H-1B petitions are fraudulent. In order to reduce this number, USCIS plans to introduce improved filing instructions as a means of reducing technical violations (such as when a job title differs on Form I-129 and a company support letter). USCIS also has plans to initiate the visitation of job sites in a manner akin to the religious worker program. The site visit program is bound to generate controversy, but may be useful in maintaining the long-term credibility of the H-1B program.
Also forthcoming is a new nonimmigrant visa application form, the so-called DS-160. Touted as a combination of the current panoply of visa application forms (the DS-156, DS-157, and DS-158), the DS-160 is described as a “challenging form.” The information entered into this online DS-160 will be stored by the U.S. Department of State (“DOS”) for an indefinite period of time, which will then allow DOS officials to cross-reference all future visa applications for inconsistent answers provided by an applicant. Thus, visa applicants will need to be more diligent in providing accurate and consistent answers on the DS-160 to avoid complications in receiving visas in the future.
On a positive note, the “Hot Topics” panelists discussed how U.S. consular posts in Mexico would begin issuing visas to third-country nationals (“TCN’s”), provided that the applicant’s first visa in a particular visa category was issued in their home country. TCN’s seeking B-1/B-2 visitor visas or who are the beneficiaries of a change of status (for instance, from F-1 to H-1B) will not be able to participate in this program.
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) envisions that it will continue its current policy of auditing between 30%-40% of labor certification applications for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, DOL will scrutinize unemployment data in order to determine the availability of US workers on a regional and industry-wide basis. The practical implications of this policy will be that if unemployment continues to rise, labor certification applications will be subject to additional scrutiny, which may lead to a greater number of denials, audits, and remands for supervised recruitment by DOL.
Reapportionment of workloads within USCIS, an almost never-ending process, will continue with an anticipated transfer of an unspecified number of pending I-140 petitions from the Nebraska and Texas Service Centers to the California Service Center in an effort to reduce processing times. This will certainly be good news for our nurses who have Schedule A cases still pending (outside of the processing report) with Nebraska from March-June 2007.
USCIS officials also stated that filing procedures for new H-1B petitions for fiscal year (“FY”) 2010 (which cannot be filed prior to April 1, 2009 for a start date no earlier than October 1, 2009) would be the same as FY 2009. This means that USCIS will accept new H-1B petitions during a five-day window, in order to prevent the previous spectacle of mass filings of petitions all arriving at USCIS on April 1st. If the number of petitions received during this filing window exceeds 59,200 for regular H-1B petitions and 20,000 for beneficiaries with U.S. Master’s degrees or higher, then a lottery will be conducted among the petitions received during this filing window. The dates of the new H-1B filing window will be confirmed by USCIS at a later date.
In summary, the mood was one of trepidation over the expansion of the E-Verify program (which allows registered employers to check the work-authorized status of their employees online) and greater issuance of so-called “No-Match” letters (in which the government cross-references the names and social security numbers of a company’s workforce with its own records, then notifies the company if there is a discrepancy), mixed with a mood of optimism that CIR is a real possibility. The assembled panelists and practitioners alike also expressed concern that H-1B and L-1 petitions, as well as labor certifications, will be subject to greater scrutiny and consistently burdensome requests for additional evidence. Only time will tell whether these hopes or fears will materialize. Either way, 2009 will not be dull for business immigration.
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6. USCIS to Implement Full Digitization Immigration Process
The USCIS announced last month that they will be updating the immigration process by implementing a full digitization system that will be spearheaded by the IBM Corporation.
This will fully digitize the immigration process for the seven million visa, citizenship and work authorization applications received by the federal organization each year.
The $500 million initiative to change the USCIS’s case management system from its current, paper-based system to a fully electronic system would drastically reduce the backlogs and delays currently faced by the USCIS.
7. U.S. Department of State Launches Free English Training Website
The U.S. Department of Education is taking an effort to help immigrants learn English. They are launching a new free website, U.S.A. Learns. It is expected to give more than 11 million adults in the U.S. with low levels of English proficiency free access to English language training modules.
U.S.A. Learns will include an easily accessible web-based learning tool with simple directions and free instructional materials that will help adults learn basic English skills. The modules will be optimized to use outside of the traditional classroom environment.
The new website is part of President Bush’s 26 immigration reform goals announced in August of last year. His series of reforms included assisting new citizens in assimilating to the U.S. and supports teaching immigrants the English language to increase the opportunities they can access in this country.
8. Homeland Security Publishes Final Rule for Secure Flight Program
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in late October that publication of the final rule for the Secure Flight program, an initiative that would shift responsibility of matching pre-departure watch lists from individual aircraft operators, to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
The suggested changes were made by the 9/11 Commission, and the TSA believes that the shift in reasonability to their organization will allow them to do a more effective job of solving issues related to misidentifications of valid travelers, most notably those travelers’ names who are similar to the names found on the watch list.
Under this program, airlines will be required to collect passengers’ full names, dates of birth and gender when those passengers are making their flight reservations. This collected data will assist the TSA in validating travelers from those watch lists.
The TSA will begin taking over the matching responsibilities from the airlines for passengers traveling domestically in early 2009, and will take over matching responsibilities for travelers coming into the U.S. on international flights in late 2009.
9. Party Leaders Agree Immigration Reform is a Priority in 2009
In recent days, leaders from both sides have pledged that comprehensive immigration reform is a legislative priority for the 111th Congress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assured the public that Congress will “move forward” and pass immigration reform legislation. In the meantime, the Republican strategist Karl Rove said that immigration reform is crucial to the survival of the GOP.
"Republicans must find a way to support secure borders, a guest-worker program and comprehensive immigration reform that strengthens citizenship, grows our economy and keeps America a welcoming nation," said Rove.
10. Attorney's Do's & Dont's for PERM Job Applicant Interviews
As Posted on ILW.com 11/17/2008
The Department of Labor and a national law firm recently focused on the correct method of advising employers to interview U.S. workers for job opportunities. The law firm and DOL entered into an agreement defining the correct manner of reviewing, interview and identifying qualified and non-qualified workers. The criteria is as followed:
- Employers should not receive memoranda from attorneys advising to contact the attorney to discuss worker qualifications.
- Attorneys may not interview job applicants for their clients (employers) and all resumes received by attorneys must be forwarded promptly to the employer.
- Attorneys may not conduct any preliminary screening of applications or resumes before a client's hiring staff does, other than routine clerical or ministerial organizing of resumes which does not include and is not based on any assessment of, or comments on, the qualifications of any applicants.
- Attorneys should forward all resumes to employers.
- Attorneys may only participate in the interview of a U.S. worker unless the attorney routinely performs that function for the employer.
- Attorneys may not dissuade a client from the client's initial determination that a particular applicant is qualified, able, willing and available for a position for which the employer is considering.
- It has also been suggested by DOL in its FAQ's, that attorneys may review the resumes of workers who have been rejected, to see if the employer rejected them legally, but not the resumes of workers deemed qualified, since this would be seen as an act of dissuasion, to dissuade the employer from seriously considering the applicants.
Attorneys may advise employers about the PERM Rule and legal interpretations, such as BALCA decisions, legal memoranda, FAQ’s and other information that may guide employers through the thorny process of considering whether job applicants are qualified, able, willing and available.
The penalties for not following the DOL guidelines are sanctions authorized by the PERM Rule itself, including audits, denial of application, or supervised recruitment. Penalties and criminal investigations will ensue if misrepresentation or fraud is suspected.
In the current economic crisis, and with U.S. unemployment on the rise, there are more workers looking for employment, and employers will have to be more careful than ever to conduct recruitment procedures in accordance with the rules.
11. America's Loss = Canada's Gain
The United States is fortunate. It attracts a seemingly endless supply of the best and brightest people from all parts of the globe as foreign guest workers. Most of these individuals enter on H-1B visas and all of them have a high-skilled job set aside for their arrival. These temporary workers include IT professionals, physical and social scientists, and engineers, to name but a few. They are the kind of human capital that most societies wish for.
You would think there is surely a way for H-1B visa holders to move from impermanent to permanent status and eventually to U.S. citizenship. You would be wrong. At the end of a maximum of six years, these valuable economic contributors are shown the door and told to leave. This of course, makes no sense, but whoever said that government policy is based on sound reasoning?
Canada is also fortunate. It lies next to the United States and is happy to provide a home for these unappreciated workers, who now have North American work experience. Until recently, H-1B visa holders were treated as any other applicant for Canadian Permanent Residency. That meant having to qualify under a sometimes lengthy process in the absence of a pre-arranged job.
But not anymore.
For more information on American's Loss = Canada's Gain:
Read this article from Canadavisa.com
12. “In Focus” for the Workplace: Developing Effective Work Relationships will Keep Your Career on the Rise
You can potentially 'decide' your career and work relationships by the actions you take and the behaviors you exhibit at work.
In order to succeed, you must develop effective work relationships - no matter your education, experience, or job title. In essence, you will never accomplish your work mission unless you learn how to 'play nice' in the workplace.
The following are the top seven ways you can play well with others at work. These are the actions you want to take to create a positive, empowering, motivational work environment for people:
- Bring suggested solutions with the problems to the meeting table. Some employees spend an inordinate amount of time identifying problems. Honestly? That's the easy part. Thoughtful solutions are the challenge that will earn respect and admiration from coworkers and bosses
- Don't ever play the blame game. You alienate coworkers, supervisors, and reporting staff. Yes, you may need to identify who was involved in a problem. You may even ask the Deming question: what about the work system caused the employee to fail? But, not my fault and publicly identifying and blaming others for failures will earn enemies. These enemies will, in turn, help you to fail. You do need allies at work.
- Your verbal and nonverbal communication matters. If you talk down to another employee, use sarcasm, or sound nasty, the other employee hears you. We are all radar machines that constantly scope out our environment.
- In one organization a high level manager said to me, "I know you don't think I should scream at my employees. But, sometimes, they make me so mad. When is it appropriate for me to scream at the employees?" Answer? Never, of course, if respect for people is a hallmark of your organization.
- Never blind side a coworker, boss, or reporting staff person. If the first time a coworker hears about a problem is in a staff meeting or from an email sent to his supervisor, you have blind sided the coworker. Always discuss problems, first, with the people directly involved who "own" the work system. Also called lynching or ambushing your coworkers, you will never build effective work alliances unless your coworkers trust you. And, without alliances, you never accomplish the most important goals.
- Keep your commitments. In an organization, work is interconnected. If you fail to meet deadlines and commitments, you affect the work of other employees. Always keep commitments, and if you can't, make sure all affected employees know what happened. Provide a new due date and make every possible effort to honor the new deadline.
- Share credit for accomplishments, ideas, and contributions. How often do you accomplish a goal or complete a project with no help from others? If you are a manager, how many of the great ideas you promote were contributed by staff members? Take the time, and expend the energy, to thank, reward, recognize and specify contributions of the people who help you succeed. This is a no-fail approach to building effective work relationships.
- Help other employees find their greatness. Every employee in your organization has talents, skills, and experience. If you can help fellow employees harness their best abilities, you benefit the organization immeasurably. The growth of individual employees benefits the whole. Compliment, recognize, praise, and notice contributions. You don't have to be a manager to help create a positive, motivating environment for employees. In this environment, employees do find and contribute their greatness.
If you utilize these seven actions, you will play well with others and develop effective work relationships. Your co-workers will value you as a colleague and bosses will believe you play on their team.
For more information on how to develop effective relationships at work:
Read this article at Workforce.com
Immigration Compliance Group continues to be at the cutting edge of developments in business immigration. We are dedicated to providing our clients with the solutions required today to circumvent the complexities of immigration law. We understand the challenges that you deal with on a daily basis and design practical and strategic business models to answer your needs. This focused approach produces win-win results for everyone! We look forward to hearing from you. Contact us at info@immigrationcompliancegroup.com
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