Immigration Roundup: Four Perspectives from 2015 [Video]
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4. Material Change and the Simeio Decision
For U.S. employers with foreign national employees, one of the most important changes arose in connection with an administrative appeals decision—
Matter of Simeio Solutions—in which the Administrative Appeals Unit ruled that a change in the location of an employee, inconsistent with the correspondent Labor Condition Application, constituted a material change that required the employer of the affected employer to file an amendment to its original H-1B petition.
While the decision affects directly employers of H-1B workers, there is concern that the Simeio decision could also affect the way the Immigration Service views other visa categories.
What this all boils down to is that employers are going to find taking on H-1B employees to be costlier, since any change in the location of an employment is likely to trigger the requirement to file an amendment. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for employers to view their relationship with immigration counsel as being ongoing and long term.
Many employers are in the habit of waiting until an employee’s status needs to be extended or changed before they apprise immigration counsel of major changes in the conditions of employment. This scenario will become even more problematic for them in the wake of Simeio.
The Take Away:
- The antidote to a tougher immigration environment is a strong showing at the polls. All the executive orders in the world will not make up for low voter turnout.
- Employers need to view their immigration lawyers as part of their professional team of advisors who need to be in the loop on changes in employment conditions.
- Dramatic exchanges predicted for a number of immigration programs, like the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program, did not come to pass this 2015, but changes are coming.
- 2016 is going to be yet another year of national self-definition: Are we going to give asylum to refugees fleeing horrible conditions or expedite their deportation. What kind of nation we want to be remains an unanswered question; maybe the Hispanic community will help us find the right answer.
The views stated on immgration and immigration policy by immigration attorney Robert Goodman are soley his own.
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Five Insights on the State of Immigration, Politics and Business
