Hammond Law Group, LLC

Marketwatch cites an email from Wells Fargo which states:

“The receipt of TARP funds does not specifically say that we can not renew visas … [but] there are much more stringent expectations around it,” the email said. “Due to the fact that we have and will be displacing numerous U.S. citizens in your same positions Wells Fargo has decided to enforce a policy that prohibits lines of businesses to file visa sponsorships for foreign nationals that would hold positions that could otherwise be held by qualified U.S. citizens.”

“As a recipient of these funds we feel as a company we could not justify to our political officials the need to provide sponsorship,” the email added.”

the email was evidently sent to some foreign workers from Wells HR.  The displacement line of reasoning is probably questionable or at best over broad as it applies to Wells’ entire foreign work force.

On March 31st of each year, otherwise known as “H-1B Eve” it is important to refresh our memories about the automatic “cap gap” extension that will apply again this year.  ICE recently published a memo of FAQs to help students and employers http://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/cap_gap_factsheet.pdf.

As long as a student is in valid OPT at the time of filing an H-1B Petition on April 1st (or within the appropriate filing window), that student may continue to work past his/her OPT expiration as long as the H-1B case remains pending.  As soon as the case is rejected by the lottery or denied, the automatic OPT extension is also terminated.  For those who are selected from the lottery and approved, the OPT extension will cover employment during the entire period from April 1st until October 1st when the H-1B visa becomes valid.  If you have additional questions about working or traveling while benefiting from the “cap cap” provisions, please contact our office. 

Reuters is covering the annual ‘cap day’ festivities with a piece suggesting that the downtown will mean lower total filings,  no news there really.  the article does quote an Oracle VP surmising that the cap won’t be hit the first day.

The topic of our recent Business Immigration Monthly makes national news.  Complaints against employers are on the rise for paying wages below LCA requirements and denying equal benefits to foreign workers.  While enforcement of these complaints have been infrequent in the past, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis vows to step up enforcement against employers which could include back wages, front wages, and penalties.  For the full text article, please visit http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/03/25/us/AP-Immigrant-Workers-Pay.html?_r=1.  Employers trying to improve a tight profit margin should beware!  LCA requirements are still requirements, even in a bad economy. 

Today’s Wall Street Journal has a nice article on the now several ways in which the U.S government is reacting to the economic downtown by making it harder to employ temporary foreign workers.

ComputerWorld is reporting that last week a delegation of representatives from India’s largest business groups visited Washington to discuss the H-1B Visa program with White House officials. Among those in the delegation was Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and CEO of Bharti Enterprises Ltd., India’s largest mobile phone operator. Mittal is noted as characterizing the meeting as “positive”. Although the Obama administration has yet to outline its plans for the H-1B program, it is believe that this White House organization is the most likely to support an H-1B increase, given its prior history in the area and its recent appointments. For the full ComputerWorld article see: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9130258

In a document released  last weekend, USCIS clarified how the Stimulus bill will impact employers who have received TARP funds as they look to hire H-1b’s stating that the new restrictions “[apply] to any Labor Condition Application (LCA) and/or H-1B petition filed on or after Feb. 17, 2009, involving any employment by a new employer, including concurrent employment and regardless of whether the beneficiary is already in H-1B status.

The EAWA also applies to new hires based on a petition approved before Feb. 17, 2009, if the H-1B employee had not actually commenced employment before that date.

EAWA does not apply to H-1B petitions seeking to change the status of a beneficiary already working for the employer in another work-authorized category. It also does not apply to H-1B petitions seeking an extension of stay for a current employee with the same employer.”

Now its The Economist, with a helpful bar graph, going to bat for skilled workers as engines of entrepeneurialism and growth – “Between 1996 and 2004 an average of 550,000 small businesses were created every month. One factor is a fairly open immigration policy”

Reuters is carrying an article from Diana Furchtgott-Roth, former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in which she advocates immigration as a growth engine, pointing out that:

“By limiting visas, America is hurting itself, because the number and percentage of PhDs in science and engineering awarded to Americans and permanent residents have declined dramatically over the past decade. Fifty-eight percent of PhDs in physics are awarded to foreigners in 2007, compared with 48 percent a decade earlier. Foreigners earn 66 percent of PhDs in computer science and 53 percent of PhDs in chemistry.”