Immigration – HospitalityLawyer.com

I-9 Audits On The Rise- ICE Increasing Worksite Enforcement Audits By 400%

Eileen Momblanco — Sun, 23 Sep 2018 04:00:24 +0000

In July 2018, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that in the last six months, it issued 5,200 notices of inspection to employers in the U.S. in order to audit their Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification documents.

This is a significant increase compared to only 1,360 audits initiated in all of the last fiscal year, which is consistent with a 2017 announcement by then-acting deputy director of ICE, Tom Homan, who stated that ICE planned to increase worksite enforcement audits by 400%.

Under the law, employers are required to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all individuals they hire, and to document that information using the Form I-9. Failure to comply with immigration laws (including incorrect Forms I-9 and knowing employment of unauthorized workers) can result in criminal and civil penalties. In fiscal year 2017, businesses were ordered to pay $97.6 million in judicial forfeitures, fines, and restitution, and $7.8 million in civil fines.

In addition to I-9 audits, ICE’s current worksite enforcement strategy includes conducting ICE raids and the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly break the law. A few recent highly publicized ICE raids, which took place in Ohio and Tennessee, involved the detention of dozens of workers at each business.

Due to this uptick in I-9 audits, employers should conduct regular self-audits of their I-9s to ensure compliance with the law.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun: Start getting those H-1B petitions ready for the 2015 filing season

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete LLP — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 02:52:17 +0000

Yes, it’s that time again – time to prepare to file your H-1B petitions for Fiscal Year 2016. Starting April 1, 2015, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will begin accepting H-1B petition filings – subject to the cap – for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2015. We strongly recommend that H-1B petitions that are subject to the cap be filed as close to April 1 as possible because we expect the cap to be exhausted in the first week of April.

To be able to file on or as soon as possible after April 1, employers will need to begin preparations now.

There is an annual limit on the number of H-1B visas that can be issued each fiscal year to persons subject to the H-1B cap (primarily first-time H-1B beneficiaries) – approximately 65,000 in the general category and 20,000 limited to persons with U.S. master’s or more-advanced degrees. In 2014, both caps were exceeded in the first week of April (a total of about 172,500 petitions were received that week), and the USCIS had to conduct a lottery to determine which petitions would be considered. Petitions filed after the first week in April were not even included in the lottery. There is little doubt that the cap will be exceeded in the first week of April 2015 as well.

Exceptions to the H-1B cap

The H-1B cap does not apply to the following:

• Persons who are or who have been in H-1B status within the last six years; • Petitions for exempt organizations – institutions of higher education, or a related or affiliated non-profit entity, non-profit research organization or governmental research organization; or • J-1 non-immigrant physicians who are changing status to H-1B and who have obtained waivers of the two-year return home residency requirement through the Conrad 30 Program (in which the physician agrees to work in a medically-undeserved area).

Alternatives to the H-1B

If the H-1B option is not available, employers may want to consider these alternatives:

• As a prelude to filing for H-1B, optional practical training for foreign graduates of U.S. colleges and universities who may be eligible for a year of employment (or up to 29 months for students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields) after USCIS approval of an individual’s Application for Employment Authorization. • TN visas under the North American Free Trade Agreement for Canadian and Mexican professionals. • L-1 visas for intracompany transferees. If an employer has foreign operations (or decides to create them), this visa permits employees to transfer to the U.S.-affiliated company in a similar position if they have worked abroad for the foreign parent, subsidiary or affiliate continuously for at least one year within the preceding three years as an executive, manager or in a specialized knowledge capacity. • E visa classification for treaty traders and investors if the L-1 visa is not available. • J-1 exchange visitor classification for business trainees, scholars and others. • O-1 visas for individuals with extraordinary ability. Although the standards vary somewhat depending on the type of employment, generally speaking, the O-1 visa applies to those recognized as being at the top or near the top of their field of endeavor.

Originally published on Friday, January 16, 2015
1092 views at time of republishing

South Africa’s Stringent New Immigration Regulations

admin — Thu, 14 May 2015 16:00:43 +0000

South Africa, a developed nation with a net migration rate of -6.27 migrants per 1,000 people, has enacted a series of stringent new immigration regulations that went into effect on May 26. These regulations address traveling with children, yellow fever laws, and passport validity; new laws specifically concerning children will not go into effect until October 1, 2014.

Children and those traveling with them must now produce certain documents that meet specific requirements, depending on the relationship of travelers escorting the children and their final destination. Refer to the Traveling With Children annex (below) for more details.

New laws regarding yellow fever apply to all travelers entering South Africa via yellow fever-designated countries, even if a flight is stopping at an airport to refuel and no travelers deplane. Travelers must be prepared to produce an original yellow fever vaccination card; South Africa will no longer provide vaccinations at ports of entry, so travelers must obtain a vaccination no less than ten days before arriving there.

Finally, expatriates and others working in South Africa must return to their respective countries of origin to apply for a new visitor’s visa (including a renewal application for an expired visa). This includes anyone who seeks to transition from a visitor’s visa to a resident visa.

Annex: Traveling With Children

Beginning October 1, South African customs will require parents traveling with one or more children to comply with the following regulations regarding their child(ren):

When both parents are traveling with a child, they must produce an official birth certificate for the child. Click here to review the South African standard for birth certificates.
When one parent is traveling with a child, he/she must produce an official unabridged birth certificate for the child and one of the following items:
- An affidavit from the other parent, registered on the birth certificate, authorizing the traveling parent to enter or depart South Africa with the child.
- A court order granting the traveling parent full legal guardianship of the child.
- A death certificate for the other parent (if deceased); also, the deceased parent must be registered as one of the child’s parents on the child’s birth certificate.
When a traveler accompanies a child but is not the child’s biological parent, he/she must produce the following items:
- A copy of the child’s unabridged birth certificate.
- An affidavit from the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of the child that grants the traveler permission to travel with the child.
- A copy of the identity document(s) and/or passport(s) of the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of the child.
- Contact information for the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of the child.
An unaccompanied child must produce:
- An affidavit/letter from the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of the child that grants the child permission to enter or leave South Africa.
- A letter from the person in South Africa receiving the child, including both a residential address and contact information.
- A copy of the identity document or valid passport and visa or permanent residence permit of the person receiving the child in South Africa.
- The contact details of the parents or legal guardian of the child.