Immigration

How do we go about verifying I-9 documents for remote employees?

10/28/2015

Q. We have a workforce that largely works remotely, some hundreds of miles from our corporate office. For a variety of reasons, we will be reclassifying a number of these individuals from independent contractor status to employees. Given that we will need I-9s for the employees, do we need to personally see the required identification documents, or can the employees send us facsimiles/scans, etc.? If we need to see the forms personally, what is the best way to do that?

We found questionable I-9 documents: What now?

05/28/2015

Q: “While conducting an annual self-audit of employee files and I-9 compliance, I have encountered some questionable documents that I believe to be fraudulent. If I contact an ICE agent to verify these documents, will this then trigger a company wide ICE audit?” – Santana, Texas

USCIS reaches H-1B visa cap in less than a week

04/23/2015

All 85,000 H-1B visas for 2016 are spoken for, snapped up in less than seven days in an application process that began April 1.

Luxury hotelier hit with $2 million tab for immigration violations

10/13/2014

Salt Lake City-based Grand America Hotels and Resorts will pay nearly $2 million for hiring undocumented immigrants following a settlement agreement signed in September between the company, federal prosecutors and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Justice Department: Don’t share I-9 forms with outside vendors

06/17/2014

Can a paycard vendor request access to an employer’s I-9 data so it can verify the identity of the employees to whom it will be issuing paycards? The DOL has weighed in on the question.

Employers pay big for making up own I-9 document requirements

05/16/2014

Take too lax an approach to reviewing identity documents for the purpose of completing I-9 forms and you could run afoul of the Immigration Reform and Control Act. But as two employers learned in April, imposing overly rigorous document requirements on workers can violate the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Texas town loses final appeal on immigration statute

05/01/2014

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear appeals of rulings that declared two of the nation’s most far-reaching anti-immigrant statutes unconstitutional. The towns of Farmer’s Branch, Texas, and Hazleton, Pa., had adopted ordinances punishing landlords who rented to “illegal immigrants.” The Hazleton ordinance also targeted employers that hired illegals.

Electronic I-9s: Can you pre-populate employee data?

03/21/2014

Employers that use electronic systems to complete I-9 verification forms for new hires sometimes streamline the system by pre-populating employee information on Section I of the I-9 with information pulled from the company’s HR software. Is that permissible?

IRCA: Hiring Immigrants

02/22/2014

HR Law 101: Two laws govern U.S. immigration policy: the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, which was amended in 1990. For each new employee hired, U.S. employers must complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The I-9 establishes the employee’s identity and legal work status.

Acceptable Documents for I-9

02/20/2014

HR Law 101: Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act, new employees must provide to employers proof of identity and employment eligibility with documents listed on the I-9 Form ….