U.S Immigration Law
Name
Institutional Affiliation INTRODUCTION The U.S immigration law has a major effect on the business community. Many business people are concerned about the increasing government raids targeting managers and employers who have employed illegal aliens in their workplaces. For this reason, it is evident that immigration laws lead to unintended consequences for employers who have taken measures to cope with down economy by employing cheap labor and also downsizing their workforces. Recently, president Obama passed an executive order allowing immigrants to become official citizens of the U.S. Although the immigration laws that were passed by the President have been criticized by the legal community, it is evident that have a significant impact on the business community. This paper provides a discussion of the major business issues that have been affected as a result of the immigration law.
THE DOWNTURN OF IMMIGRATION LAW The immigration law has a major effect to the business community. The business that operates in the U.S should always be aware that the consequences of employing illegal aliens could affect their business performance to a greater scale. This is because any employer who has been caught having illegal aliens as their employees could lead to a jail term. In addition, employment law has also significant impact as it can lead to hiring freezes, layoffs, and forced leaves of absence, terminations and benefit reductions. Employers are expected to adhere to the immigration law, and ensure that they have employed employees with valid visa category. Immigration law has a major impact especially to an employer terminating an H-1B employee. This is because they are required to inform the Citizenship and Immigration Services and also the Department of Labor. The failure to do so could amount to compensation of the former employee and also other associated legal penalties (Farnam, 2005). Immigration laws have an impact to employers in case an employee requests a leave of absence. If an H-1B employee has made a request to have a leave of absence, there is no significant effect to the employer. However, according to immigration laws, if an employer gives an employee a leave of absence as a cost saving measure, the employer will continue to provide the employee with a continuing wage obligation even if the obligation does not have a significant obligation to pay the U.S workers at the same time. Employers are also expected to ensure that they have paid their employees a wage that is above the minimum limit. This will help to increase the wage of an employee and ensure that the employer has accomplished the required salary offering to the employer. For this reason, it is clear that any prudent measure by an employer to cope with business downturn can lead to serious violations of the immigration law. This means that the employer should seek legal counsel before they have undertaken any action that can significantly affect wage and hour status of the foreign nationals (Gardner & Anderson, 2009).
UNDOCUMENTED TO OBTAIN WORK AUTHORIZATION Many undocumented workers have been in the past getting employment in the U.S hence posing a significant threat to the survival of their employers. This has been serious especially where the employers have been accused of violation of tax laws. This is expected to change with the reform of the immigration laws. Workers will now be expected to apply for registration in order to get work permits in the country. The employers should have the knowledge of This provision will benefit workers who have been living in the U.S over the past three years and have passed background checks and have not been convicted of any felony. The passage of this law will help the undocumented workers to pay their taxes on time. The failure of employers to ensure that their employees have abided to these laws will lead to serious immigration violations can subject them to failures of tax payments, fines and also evasion, which has major consequences for business permits (Kenney, 2008). The focus of employing undocumented workers has changed from civil penalties to criminal enforcement in the Obama administration. The enforcement of these laws means having public raids, which could affect public image of organizations and also disrupt business activity. This has made employers to abandon the immigration policies that show laxity to serious laws that have significant impact on their business operations. The new immigration law requires the U.S employers to consider asking the employees about their immigration status. The best practice for organizations is to ensure that they have asked serious questions that could lead to consistency in adherence to immigration policies. Companies that would like to maintain the best practices have the mandate to establish corporate immigration policies, and also ensure that they have been communicated to hiring personnel. This would have a significant impact as it could lead to establishment of a corporate culture that is compliant to immigration laws (Yoshida, 2000).
OBLIGATIONS TO USE E-VERIFY The new immigration laws will require businesses to use e-verify. This is an internet based service that allows employers to check whether their employees are lawfully permitted to live and work in the U.S. Although most of the employers are not mandated to use the service, it is a major requirement to ensure that they have background checks for their employees. The new law makes it mandatory for employers over a period of time to prove their identification, and also prevent fraud proof documents on ones identity. Electronic verification is a program that will help to prevent companies from fraudsters claiming to be United States citizens. The use of e-verify will help employers to be updated of the immigration status of an employee. This will also be important to the employment as it will give the employers limelight about the employment status for every worker (Guterman, 2014).
ISSUANCE OF SPECIAL TYPES OF VISAS The proposed immigration laws create an opportunity to allow low skilled workers, especially agricultural workers to enter into the U.S to work specifically in the department of Agriculture. However, the employers should ensure that they have me the obligations of the employment law and labor laws. The current laws create an opportunity to employ less skilled workers and offer those Visas especially those working in restaurant and construction industries. However, employers have been given several policies in which they are expected to abide to ensure that they have not violated these policies. Moreover, the current laws have also introduced merit based programs for issuance of Green Cards. The merit based program allows for issuance of visa programs based on family ties, employment, education and other recommended qualifications. Employers should be aware of these recommendations so as to ensure that they have sufficiently complied with them. The H-1B quota also needs to have constant updates so as to achieve improved applications for permanent residency in the United States (Kenney, 2008). There are also many changes that have been made to help reduce the employment times for employees who fit in the green card categories. This will make the number of visas available especially to the high skilled employees in the U.S. These changes will help to reduce the number of times for high skilled workers to receive employment opportunities while in the country. It will also offer them an opportunity to have significant changes while reducing the wait time. Candidates who have advanced degrees in fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields in the U.S universities will also have reduced times in receiving their Visas. The STEM graduates will be exempted from the labor certification hence helps them to have improved employment welfare. The proposed changes in the immigration law will provide these people with an opportunity to work in the U.S without any forms of discrimination or biasness. Employers should have the knowledge of these laws so as to help the graduates in getting job opportunities without any challeges (Yoshida, 2000).
CONCLUSION
To sum it up, it is evident that the proposal to reform immigration laws in the U.S will have significant effect on businesses and employees. The Obama administration has enacted several immigration laws and policies that have significant effects on the business community. For this reason, it is advisable for business owners to ensure that they have hired lawyers to provide sufficient information and explanation of these laws. This is because the practice and enactment of these laws have significant effect on their performance. Employees should ensure that they have followed the immigration laws to the latter so as to avoid legal consequences that could affect business operations. Through the proposed immigration laws, there will be several changes to employment that are based on Green Cards, their will be a new creation of entrepreneur visas while undocumented workers will obtain work authorization. These changes will have a significant impact on the immigration policy that will affect the business community. Since the new laws require compliance, employers should ensure that they have sought the advice of immigration counsel so as to guide them on compliance measures related to tax, business and finances. References
Farnam, J. (2005). US immigration laws under the threat of terrorism. New York: Algora Publishers.
Gardner, T. J., & Anderson, T. M. (2009). Criminal law. Australia: Thomson.
Guterman, G (2014). Performance, identity, and immigration law. New York: Algora Publishers.
Kenney, K. L. (2008). Illegal immigration. Edina, Minn: ABDO Publishers
Yoshida, C. (2000). Illegal immigration and economic welfare. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag.