Eliminate Risk and Comply with Confidence
In today’s rapidly shifting regulatory environment, it is vital for companies with a global workforce to maintain compliance with immigration regulations. For organizations that fall out of compliance or trigger an audit, the process can be tedious, expensive, and time consuming.
As business operations expand worldwide, immigration compliance is growing more vital in complex processes such as corporate restructuring, large-scale projects, back-to-back rotational assignments and travel bans and more. We understand it can be challenging to successfully navigate immigration compliance with a growing business.
Immigration compliance services from Zulkie Partners are designed to shield and defend your organization in the face of new and existing laws and regulations. We advise and enact best practices so your company can successfully navigate immigration compliance issues and avoid civil penalties or criminal actions.
Comprehensive Compliance Services
At Zulkie Partners, our practice encompasses the entire range of immigration compliance services. Our experienced team of attorneys can assist you with:
- Immigration compliance audits
- Form I-9 compliance, training, internal and 3rd party audits
- E-Verify implementation and compliance
- Government enforcement actions (including Form I-9, H-1B , and DOL PERM compliance reviews, Labor Condition Applications, and other visa requirements)
- Sub-contractors, staffing agency and consultant immigration matters
- Visa application site visits, investigations and internal program reviews
- Corporate immigration strategy and policy development guidance
- Deemed export and badging issues as they relate to immigration compliance
- Social Security no-match policies
Properly navigating immigration compliance can mean the difference between growing your business or obstructing your goals. Our team strategically partners with you to provide proactive, individualized services that help you maximize your company’s immigration compliance.
Immigration Compliance Obligations that Apply to All Employers
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) requires all employers to:
- Confirm the identity and employment authorization of all employees hired after November 6, 1986 on Form I-9.
- Retain and make the Forms I-9 available for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inspectors when requested.
- Avoid discriminating against applicants and employees on the basis of national origin or citizenship.
- Not retaliate against anyone because they have complained about national origin or citizenship discrimination or participated in a discrimination investigation.
Some employers must enroll in the E-Verify employment eligibility verification system managed by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. All other employers may volunteer to participate in E-Verify. E-Verify allows employers to confirm an employee’s social security number and employment authorization in the government agencies’ databases.
Although government policies in worksite enforcement vary from administration to administration and year to year, employers generally are facing more Form I-9 investigations, resulting in extensive penalties. For more information on ICE’s goals and actions, see ICE: Labor Exploitations and ICE: Form I-9 Inspection Overview.
H-1B Visa Sponsorship
An H1B visa is a special type of visa that allows qualified foreign workers in certain occupations or workers with specialty skills to work in the United States. The sponsoring employer must have a qualifying job that requires at least the foreign equivalent of a U.S.-accredited bachelor’s degree related to the work to be performed. The statute calls this position a “specialty occupation.” Additionally, the nonimmigrant worker must have achieved a certain level of qualification or foreign degree. Applicants may hold H1B status for a maximum of six years, and it may be issued in increments of up to three years by the USCIS. Extensions of H-1B status longer than 6 year are permitted in certain situations where green card sponsorship has been undertaken by the employer.
Overview Immigration Compliance Audits
An immigration audit can help identify and resolve areas of non-compliance in your organization, in order to avoid civil penalties.
As part of our audit and compliance service, we consider a number of different aspects of compliance, which include:
- Employment authorization document checking systems and processes – which documents are acceptable, when documents are checked, how copies are annotated and stored and avoid further required inquiries.
- Processes to avoid national origin discrimination during the recruitment and on-boarding phases.
- Systems addressing sponsorship requirements such as minimum skill levels, minimum salary levels and advertising as part of green card sponsorship.
Where appropriate we will provide sample documentation and suggestions for improving standard operating procedures.