Few topics in the current national conversation incite more visceral — or polarizing — responses than immigration. Pro-immigration supporters cite the positive contributions that immigrants bring to the United States, including filling gaps in the U.S. workforce in a wide range of fields, such as the arts, sciences and business. Anti-immigration advocates argue, among other things, that immigrants displace American workers and burden social programs. Regardless of an individual’s position on the topic, one thing is certain: The spotlight on immigration has intensified under the Trump administration.
A key moment in the conversation occurred on April 18, 2017, when the president signed the Buy American and Hire American executive order, which sought to create higher wages, boost employment rates and protect economic interests for American workers through a much stricter interpretation of immigration laws and regulations. The order also increased the Department of Homeland Security’s purview to advance policies that increase scrutiny and restrictions around H-1B petitions, to ensure these clearances are awarded to only the most highly skilled or highest-paid beneficiaries.
The impact of this and other policy changes has been felt across industries and by people at every level in the marketplace, from entry-level skilled job seekers to highly trained professionals in medicine, technology and other occupations requiring advanced degrees and higher technical skills. Among the most notable consequences are increases in the difficulty of obtaining H-1B petition approvals; scrutiny and restrictive policies for students, new hires and L-1 intracompany transfers; the volume and frequency of “request for evidence” inquiries; the challenges international students, business visitors and other foreign nationals
encounter when applying for visas at certain U.S. consulates; and employer sanctions enforcement.
U.S. companies face deepening concerns about whether they are in full compliance with the complex and oftentimes murky immigration rules. Kramer Levin’s Business Immigration group leverages the most up-to-date information and legal know-how to help in-house counsel interpret these constantly changing policies and take the appropriate action to make the immigration rules work for them.