Lisa Galvan – Hammond Neal Moore, LLC

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So far Lisa Galvan has created 3 blog entries.

USCIS Releases Revised I-9

By Lisa Galvan|2017-08-22T12:15:20+00:00August 22nd, 2017|Categories: Government Agency Actions - USCIS, ICE, etc., Immigration Compliance|Tags: DHS, Employment Verification, Form I-9, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, immigration compliance, Office of Special Counsel, USCIS|

The USCIS recently issued a revised version of the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification Form. This form must be used beginning on September 18, 2017. All existing storage and retention rules for Form I-9 must continue to be followed. As you know, employers use the Form I-9 to verify the identity and employment authorization of newly hired employees. In this latest revision, the USCIS modified the List of Acceptable Documents to include adding to List C the Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240), combined all certifications of report of birth issued by the U.S. Department of State (Forms, FS-545, DS-1350 and FS-240) into List C, and renumbered all List C documents except the Social Security Card. Additionally, the name of the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices was changed to its new name of Immigrant and Employee Rights Section and removed "the end of" from the phrase "the first day or employment." Please contact your HLG attorney if you have any questions about the new form, how to do an internal audit, E-Verify or with any other immigration or employment verification questions.

The Future? of the EB-5 Program

By Lisa Galvan|2017-07-26T15:32:16+00:00July 26th, 2017|Categories: Green Cards, US Immigration Policy|Tags: DHS, EB-5, Ombudsman, Regional Center, USCIS|

Numerous EB-5 legislation has been introduced with the intention of curbing some of the EB-5 program’s issues and problems. S.1501, the American Job Creation and Investment Promotion Reform Act of 2015, introduced by Sen. Grassley and Sen. Leahy, included a laundry list of EB-5 “integrity” measures. Sen. Charles Grassley and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, have proposed legislation to eliminate the EB-5 program. In order to attempt to under the EB-5 landscape as it stands in the current political climate, we must understand the players: Stephen Miller, Senior Advisor to the President for Policy, is a Former Senator Jeff Sessions alum who is well known for his opposition to legal immigration. Gene Hamilton, Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for Policy and Senior Counselor, is also a Sessions alum. Lee Francis Cissna, nominee for Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), most recently assisted Sen. Grassley to write the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act of 2015, a bill that would have dramatically enlarged the enforcement authority of the U.S. Department of Labor and restricted H-1B and L-1 visa requirements and benefits as well as S.1501. Kathy Nueble Kovarik, Chief of the USCIS Office of Policy and Strategy, is also a Grassley alum. Julie Kirchner is the USCIS Ombudsman. Ms. Kirchner served as Executive Director of FAIR, an organization actively opposed to the EB-5 program. The USCIS Ombudsman is responsible for assisting “individuals and employers in resolving problems with” USCIS and due to limits recently placed by way of EB-5 protocols, is the only way for EB-5 stakeholders to escalate issues for EB-5 cases. Ms. Kirchner, in her Ombudsman’s 2017 Report to Congress, acknowledged that lack of anti-fraud and national security protections, and failure to agree on a permanent or multi-year reauthorization of the Regional Center [...]

Employers Seeking H-1B Visas Should Not Discriminate Against US Workers Warns the U.S. Department of Justice

By Lisa Galvan|2017-04-04T14:19:42+00:00April 4th, 2017|Categories: Government Agency Actions - USCIS, ICE, etc., Immigration Compliance, Visas - H-1b, L-1, E, O, TN|Tags: Anti-discrimination, DOJ, foreign workers, h-1b, Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, INA, Justice Department, OSC, US workers|

Yesterday, April 3rd was the first day the USCIS began accepting H-1B visa petitions that are subject to the cap for the next fiscal year (October 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018). The H-1B visa allows U.S. employers to employ temporarily foreign workers in specialty occupations including science and technology. The anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) prohibit employers from discriminating against U.S. workers because of their citizenship or national origin. This prohibition applies to hiring, firing and recruiting or recruiting for a fee. An employer may be found to have violated the INA’s anti-discriminatory prohibitions if they favor H-1B visa holders over U.S. workers. “The Justice Department will not tolerate employers misusing the H-1B visa process to discriminate against U.S. workers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler of the Civil Rights Division. “U.S. workers should not be placed in a disfavored status, and the department is wholeheartedly committed to investigating and vigorously prosecuting these claims.” The Immigrant and Employee Rights Section of the division (formerly the Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices) is responsible for prosecuting violations under these provisions which include citizenship, immigration status and national original discrimination in hiring, firing, recruitment or recruitment for a fee; unfair documentary practices; retaliation; and intimidation. Please contact Hammond Law Group if you have any questions about what may or may not be considered a violation of the INA’s anti-discrimination provisions.