In this podcast, WR Immigration Director of Visa Consulting Charlie Oppenheim and Managing Partner Bernie Wolfsdorf discuss the immigrant visa and green card employment-based waiting lines.
WR Immigration Podcast: Chatting with Charlie and Bernie – Immigrant Visa and Green Card Employment-Based Waiting Lines
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Optional Practical Training for International Students is Vital to America’s Best Interest: Don’t Let the Best and Brightest Slip Away
A new decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sustaining the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) current rule on Optional Practical Training (OPT) is good news for the United States. The rule authorizes a limited period of post-coursework OPT, if recommended and overseen by the school and approved by DHS, for qualifying international students on F-1 visas. OPT allows a period of 12 months of employment in a student’s field of study, with a 24-month extension beyond that for students in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields. More than 100,000 of the roughly 1 million international students who come to the United States complete a period of practical training. As the court noted, “hands-on work is critical for understanding fast-moving technological and scientific developments.” OPT enables these students to complete a critical piece of their education—learning how to apply their knowledge gained from university studies to hands-on, real-world needs—and to begin contributing immediately to their fields the United States. If we don’t retain international students in the United States after they complete their courses of study, they’ll take their skills elsewhere and go to work for our competitors in other countries. As it is, […]
Immigration Compliance: Beware of Being TOO Diligent
In a new settlement, the Department of Justice (DOJ) imposed a civil penalty of $84,832, along with training and monitoring requirements, on Ascension Health Alliance, a Missouri-based health care organization with more than 2,600 sites, including 146 hospitals and more than 40 senior living facilities in 19 states and the District of Columbia. Ascension was found to have violated the law by discriminating against work-authorized non-U.S. citizens because of their citizenship status. Ascension told its noncitizen employees to prove their continued authorization with new documentation even when not required. Close to the expiration date of non-U.S. citizen employees’ documents, the company sent the workers automated emails and further required non-U.S. citizen employees to present new documents to continue working for the company. Ascension did not send such emails to U.S. citizens and did not similarly notify them near the expiration of their documents. This is a good example and warning to employers not to treat their noncitizen employees differently from their U.S. citizen employees, and not to ask for additional documentation beyond the minimum required by law. “This is a good example and warning to employers not to treat their noncitizen employees differently from their U.S. citizen employees, and not […]
