Immigration Actions Could Raise Employer Compliance Issues

Kim Thompson was quoted on Law360 on November 24, 2014. The article “Immigration Actions Could Raise Employer Compliance Issues” discussed how employers may face compliance headaches and a long wait for regulatory changes as a result of President Barack Obama's new immigration actions.

"It's one thing that I think that a lot of employers are going to wrestle with because they want to help these individuals, probably a lot of whom have been there for a long time," said Kim.

Kim added that if an employee does need to be terminated, the company could emphasize that the worker is welcome to reapply for a position once she has work authorization through the new program.

"The L-1B clarifications of the guidelines is really going to be critical," Kim said, noting that it’s become increasing difficult to obtain approval for such visas, to the detriment of international companies.

The program's time period for the science, technology, engineering and math students is also slated to be extended, which could take some pressure off employers who are seeking seeking H-1B visas for STEM graduates, Kim said.

However, the earliest someone may have work authorization under the new parent program is six to nine months from now, Kim estimated. The implementation of most of these new actions is likely to take some time and could be slowed by legal action.

To read the full article, please visit Law360.