WR Immigration Podcast: Chatting with Charlie – Understanding the March 2023 Visa Bulletin

How does M&A impact business immigration strategy?

As companies adapt to a radically different post-pandemic world, a merger and acquisition wave is sweeping across several sectors. Life Sciences is one of the most active industries, driven by new outlooks in drug discovery, collaboration, and global efficiencies. For HR and foreign-born employees, mergers can come loaded with complexities and pitfalls that are often not addressed during the planning stages. Strategies may be laid out for roles, office locations, and cultural integration, but immigration factors that directly impact the organization are often overlooked. This can result in key employees being put in untenable positions. They may need to obtain a new visa, be relocated, or worse yet – have no options to remain employed by the acquiring company. Such risk exists across all sectors. Life Sciences companies, however, may experience more stress given the crucial nature of the skilled scientists they employ from different regions. Losing key people or creating uncertainty and conflict can make a difficult situation even harder; consider that 33 percent of mergers fail due to poor or inadequate cultural integration. Forethought and planning can help prevent this one piece of the puzzle from contributing to an already challenging environment. In preparation for a merger, HR […]