Contact: Janet Cheetham & Joel Paget; Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland, PLLC (Washington, USA)
Our Predictions for the Coming Year
- E-Verify is here to stay and will be required of every employee going forward within the next five years.
- There will be more Form I-9, H-1B and L-1 audits by USICE and the DOL. There will be fines for noncompliance, as well as “bad” publicity leaked to the press by the government.
- There will be more Requests for Evidence on petitions filed with the USCIS, so cases need to be documented up front.
- The push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform will continue. This means finding a suitable compromise to deal with persons with no status as well as those waiting in long backlogs to immigrate.
- Employees from India, China and other countries will be waiting fewer years for permanent visas and for authorization for their spouses to work.
- There will be special visa allocations for graduates with STEM degrees; those in science, technology, engineering and math.
- Foreign owned companies from Treaty countries such as Canada, England, Japan, Israel and Korea will have an easier time hiring new employees from their home country for work in the U.S. than U.S. companies will have in hiring a person outside the U.S.
- The H-1B quota was met in November 2012, and will be reached sooner in 2013 unless Congress increases the quota.
- The I-94 card will be completely eliminated as a means of recording the time a person remains in the United States. In lieu of Form 1-94, alien travelers will get a slip with a website on it, where they can access their record of admission.
We suggest a member of your hiring team consult with legal counsel to develop a long range hiring strategy. Don’t let your company be blind-sided.
Janet Cheetham and Joel Paget are attorneys in Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland, PLLC’s Immigration Group. Janet can be reached at 206.654.2235 or cheetham@ryanlaw.com. Joel can be reached at 206.654.2215 or paget@ryanlaw.com.
This message has been released by the Immigration Group at Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland, PLLC to advise of recent developments in the law. Because each situation is different, this information is intended for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice on any specific facts and circumstances. Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland, PLLC is a full-service law firm located in Seattle, Washington.
