U.S. visa. Photo: Larcsky789/Shutterstock.comThe Trump administration announced last month that it would be temporarily suspending H1-B and other work visas, a decision that the potential to make waves across the legal ecosystem. Inside the corporate legal sphere, the implications could include heavier workloads, additional outsourcing to law firms and additional logistical challenges layered on top of the ones already created by COVID-19.
For starters, corporate human resources departments—many of which are responsible for handling matters pertaining to employees and immigration—likely aren’t equipped to navigate some of the novel and highly specific questions raised by the new visa suspensions. Jessica Demuth, vice president of legal solutions at Exigent Group Ltd., believes that HR personnel will likely turn to their corporate legal teams for assistance.
“HR is now going to be relying on legal because now you start to see more risk and the necessity for increased compliance,” Demuth said.
But as the circumstances around the visa suspension continue to evolve, even corporate legal departments may find themselves hustling to keep up. Elizabeth Espin Stern, a partner in Mayer Brown‘s global mobility and migration practice, indicated that some of the issues stemming from the suspension may come into sharper focus as COVID-19 travel restrictions ease.
For instance, companies with an international footprint may be looking to bring overseas employees to the United States in order to help harmonize global operations, create confidence and work in the same time zone. Per Espin Stern, now departments are looking at people that they would ordinarily transfer on an L-1 visa and they won’t be able to do so for any certain length of time.
Other complications may continue to arise as the situation develops. “Beyond the visa freeze, lawyers, including corporate legal departments, will be hit with new standards they haven’t even had a chance to opine on once the administration issues rulemaking on H-1B and L-1 visas, since the administration is reported to be planning Interim Final Rules without the benefit of notice and comment,” Espin Stern said.
It doesn’t help that immigration is a specialized area of practice. Demuth at Exigent pointed out that many in-house legal teams may not have someone who specializes in immigration on staff, which could in turn necessitate an increased reliance on outside counsel.
Other companies might opt to take a more permanent solution to the problem in an effort to cut down on legal bills long term. “Some of the more advanced companies are starting to bring in in-house immigration counsel. Because the volume of what some of these companies are doing in filing petitions is significant,” Demuth said.
Still, the real obstacle that the visa suspension poses to legal departments will likely be the slow pace at which the situation continues to unfold. Companies are attempting to make the best decisions they can while still in the process of assessing the legal impact.
“It creates a total uncertainty for businesses at a time when the economy is suffering and businesses really need to be able to plan for their future,” Espin Stern said.
Read More:
How Trump’s Latest Suspension of Worker Visas Could Affect Tech Industry
How Lawyers Are Fighting Mounting Employer Troubles From H-1B Immigration Changes
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July 03, 2020 at 02:00AM
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