Corporate Immigration Law News

Scott Malyk              Lin Walker

A decade ago, very few people outside of the Information Technology (IT) industry knew what cybersecurity was or even considered it something worth worrying about. Many of us naively believed that with the right passwords, encryption software and firewalls, our data and information would be secure.

In recent years, however, our world has become far more technologically advanced and, as a consequence, technologically dependent. Nearly every occupation and industry has developed some use for artificial intelligence, a big data platform, or web-based application, whether it is banking, retail, pharmaceutical, medical, legal or agricultural. Most organizations that generate significant data store work product/files on servers or in the “cloud”. With the advent of e-commerce and electronic file storage, we can now share photos and documents as well as make financial transactions from our phones, computers, and other smart devices.

While these advances in technology have made our lives easier in many respects, they have also created significant opportunities for individuals and organizations to use the same technology to commit cybercrimes. Although cybersecurity is neither a new or emerging field, there has been something of a collective epiphany in the United States regarding the essential and significant role it plays in our everyday lives, particularly since 2016. Since that time, there have been daily reports of cybersecurity crimes, ranging from denials of service, to hacks and breaches of personal, financial and confidential information, to election meddling. Read full text here:

If you have any questions , please do not hesitate to contact Anthony F. Siliato or Scott R. Malyk.

There are recent reports that ICE has started to conduct on-site inspections for STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) employment. According to DHS’s Study in the States website, the site visit will address how the salary of STEM OPT employees is determined, whether there is sufficient structure to provide supervision and training of the employee, and the nature of the employer/employee relationship at any third party worksites. The website states the following:

Site visits will be limited to checking information related to student STEM OPT employment and ensuring that students and employers are engaged in work-based learning experiences that are consistent with the information supplied on the student’s Form I-983.

As these compliance site visits are a new practice, it is important to refer back to the STEM OPT regulation preamble which describes the expected scope of a DHS site visit:

The employer site visit is intended to ensure that each employer meets program requirements, including that they are complying with their attestations and that they possess the ability and resources to provide structured and guided work-based learning experiences outlined in students’ Training Plans. Site visits will be performed at the discretion of DHS either randomly or when DHS determines that such an action is needed. Based on previous on-site-reviews to schools, DHS estimates that an employer site visit may include review of records and questions for the supervisor, and will take five hours per employer.

At this point, based on the few inspections conducted, the length of the site visits appears to be in the range of 1-2 hours rather than 5 hours. ICE has typically given two days’ notice by emailing the STEM OPT worker’s manager. We do not expect ICE to give notice if the site visit is based on a complaint. ICE’s SEVP officers have conducted the site visits thus far. Read more:

If you have any questions , please do not hesitate to contact Anthony F. Siliato or Scott R. Malyk.

The Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) recently moved closer to launching its  new electronic registration system for allocating the annual limit on H-1B cap cases. The current procedures require employers to prepare and submit fully documented cases without any assurance that those cases will be selected within the H-1B cap. DHS then returns the many H-1B cases that are not selected. This burdensome procedure may finally be coming to an end. DHS is in the midst of making the following bold changes to the H-1B cap selection procedures. Read details here.

If you have questions in connection with any of the foregoing, please do not hesitate to contact Anthony F. Siliato or Scott R. Malyk.