Episode 21: Employers say better immigration policies would make the U.S. more competitive

It’s April 27, and this is your BAL Immigration Report.

• Employers grapple with an increase in PERM audits.
• A plan to increase USCIS fees draws nearly 8,000 comments.
• In a new survey, employers say better immigration policies would help make the U.S. more competitive.

“Over half of employers said that the United States is losing out on top talent because of those inefficiencies within the immigration system currently.”

—Kerri Nelson, SHRM Director of Policy and Partnership Research

U.S news

PERM audits webinar

The Department of Labor has ratcheted up scrutiny of permanent labor certification, or PERM, applications. The increase in audits comes amid a wave of layoffs in tech and other economic sectors. During a webinar this week, John Hamill, a senior associate in BAL’s New York City office, said the increased scrutiny is complicating an already long and difficult undertaking.

“The PERM process is already an incredibly drawn out one. It’s very long if everything goes right, already complicated, and as you may have seen in your own programs or throughout other areas of immigration, timing is particularly important for certain benefits. If a case that never should have been denied in the first place wins on an RFR or an appeal, nevertheless the timing, the delay of the progress of that green card case can have significant immigration consequences.”

Hamill was joined in the webinar by Josiah Curtis, a partner in BAL’s Boston office, and September Weinberger, senior director, client relationships in the firm’s Dallas headquarters. For more information, visit BAL.com/events.

Public comment period ends for proposed fee increase rule

USCIS received nearly 8,000 public comments on its proposed rule to raise filing fees by a weighted average about 40%. The agency accepted comments through March 13. Some of the comments were delayed in being uploaded to the government’s rule rulemaking portal, but now all are available for review at regulations.gov. USCIS has not raised fees since 2016.

As we reported on a previous episode of this podcast, business and immigration groups say they understand that fees must be raised from time to time. However, they also say USCIS must be clearer about how it is calculating fee levels and should take additional steps to improve services.

U.S. news roundup

• The State Department suspended operations in Khartoum, Sudan, amid ongoing armed conflict.
• USCIS clarified agency guidance on citizenship and naturalization for adopted children.
• The Department of Health and Human Services published a proposed rule to extend Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage to DACA recipients. The White House announced a plan to do so earlier this month.

Spotlight

A conversation with SHRM Director of Policy and Partnership Research Kerri Nelson: the role immigration can play in keeping the U.S. competitive.

BAL Immigration Report: In a recent workplace immigration survey, the Society for Human Resource Management, or SHRM, asked more than 2,500 employers questions about their interaction with the U.S. immigration system. Responses came from across 19 industries and all geographic regions in the U.S. Kerri Nelson, director of policy and partnership research at SHRM, joined us to discuss the findings.

Nelson: Number one, we found about three in four employers that we surveyed agreed that increasing immigration in the United States could encourage economic growth and that it makes America more globally competitive. So there is quite a bit of positivity from our sample about the need for expanding and modernizing the U.S. immigration system to help make U.S. employers more competitive and find the top talent to fill those workplace shortages that they’re experiencing. Beyond that, we found that about over half of employers said that the United States is losing out on top talent because of those inefficiencies within the immigration system currently.

The next key finding that I would share is that there was an interesting distinction between employers’ views of workers on visas and then their experience with the immigration system itself. On the one hand, when we ask these employers about their experiences with foreign-born talent on employment-based visas, immigrant or nonimmigrant visas, we found that generally they shared really overall positive experiences with these workers.

But on the other hand, we saw a little bit more muted positivity around their interaction with the system, the immigration system they used to access the talent. There was a bit of dissatisfaction about how do we get to these workers that we see are high-performing, high-skilled, oftentimes with certain visas such as H-1B, that they need to fill these talent shortages they’re experiencing. And a lot of that dissatisfaction around the immigration system came from things like the unpredictability that can be associated with it and then the uncertainties. So about half of employers in our samples said they found it risky to invest in immigration as a solution because of that uncertainty. But if there was more certainty in the system, they would be willing to invest more time, more effort, more resources.

BAL: Employers also expressed support for Dreamers — 86% of respondents agreed that recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, should be given an opportunity to apply for lawful permanent status. Among employers who currently employ or previously employed DACA recipients, 72% said their organizations would be negatively impacted if these employees were to lose work authorization. SHRM crafted a set of policy recommendations based on the survey’s results.

Nelson: I think there’s a number of policy implications, but within the survey we asked employers, what would really help them most? What improvements would really assist them in utilizing the immigration system? How they’d like to? And the top five things that came away from that — and a lot of the policy recommendations in the report that we’ve put out are data-driven based on the research from the survey — which is number one, a great deal of employers in the survey were looking for the ability to enable permanent electronic submissions of immigration petitions and forms. So throughout the immigration process, the ability to file electronically would be super beneficial to them.

Number two was the introduction of automatic renewals of previously adjudicated applications. Some of that is that whether they got the approval in the past, it would help or assist them in in the future moving forward to enable automatic renewal for those specific applications.

Number three, a lot of employers were also just simply looking for more guidance from government agencies in this space about what to do, especially around questions and concerns they might have.

Number four, there was an appetite certainly for a known employer program. That’s goes in line with a number of the other improvements that many of these employers were asking for, but basically, a means to streamline the process, especially for employers that are submitting multiple applications for these visas.

And then last but not least, there was also an appetite or interest from employers in increasing the number of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas available specifically around country caps or other mechanisms that would make it easier to access account that they need.

Global news

Visa-free Schengen travel for Kosovo nationals

The European Parliament recently approved visa-free travel for nationals of Kosovo. The exemption will go into effect when the long-awaited European Travel Information and Authorization System launches, currently expected sometime in 2024. The waiver will allow citizens of Kosovo to travel to the Schengen area for up to 90 days within a 180-day period.
Kosovo is currently the only part of the Western Balkans region not to have a visa exemption for short stays within the Schengen area.

Spain provides further visa guidance

In Spain, the government published further guidance for remote workers and entrepreneurs applying for visas under the new startup law. Remote workers must provide proof that they either graduated from a renowned university or have at least three years of relevant work experience. Those working in government-regulated professions — such as lawyers, architects and some engineers — must have their degrees evaluated and verified. Entrepreneur visa applicants must submit a report to the National Agency of Innovation documenting that their business activities are entrepreneurial. Spanish authorities provided this guidance to mitigate complications and delays in the application process.

Swiss immigration update

In Switzerland, the government will soon centralize and expand immigration services in Zurich. Beginning June 12, inhabitants’ offices will move to three central locations in the city and be renamed “personal registration offices.” Authorities will provide more immigration services at these offices as well as increase online services. The change comes in response to a surge in immigration needs as COVID-19 restrictions have lifted around the world. Officials expect the expanded offerings to reduce processing and service delays across the country.

Global news roundup

• The U.K. Home Office has granted concessions to some individuals applying for Hong Kong British National Overseas status.
• Employers in the Philippines face a May 15 deadline to submit accreditation applications.
• The Chilean government announced plans to gradually increase the minimum wage throughout the remainder of the year.

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