In the past several weeks, employers have come to us for advice on how to prepare for change in policies that may affect their ability to onboard and retain international personnel. We have posted our thoughts about this at Mdivani Corporate Immigration Update HERE.
Similarly, managers, in-house legal counsel and HR professionals in charge of international personnel function onboarding and retention have been receiving many anxious requests from international employees. HR inboxes are being filled with "what is the status of my visa/employment authorization," and "what is going to happen next" emails. The level of anxiety is high, and the level of additional work required to update and guide employees is crushing. For example, we represent a Midwest hospital that hires international physicians, nurses, and medical technologists to partially address shortages in the occupations. The hospital's Talent Aquisition Director was drowning in emails asking for status and guidance. What should the employer do in this situation? Below you will find three practical steps that we have implemented in collaboration with our client:
1. Hold a Townhall Meeting with International Employees;
2. Encourage Checking Online; and
3. Reach out to Your Outside Legal Counsel.
This is how it is done in practice:
1. Hold a Townhall Meeting with International Employees
Our client has invited its international employees to attend a zoom session where employees receive an update from the legal team about what to expect, and where they are able to ask any questions. This is a time- and cost-effective way to alleviate anxiety experienced by employees. For large organizations, such as hospitals, we have held several of these meetings to accommodate medical personnel working different shifts, including nights shifts.
2. Encourage Checking Online
One of the best ways to lessen the traffic of inquiries and to speed the flow of information to the employees is to enable employees to check the status of petitions filed with USCIS online. Employers may consider providing petition receipt numbers to their employees and encourage them to check with USCIS.gov here: Case Status Online - Case Status Search.
3. Reach out to Your Legal Outside Legal Counsel
Some questions from your international employees are complex and cannot be addressed by logging online at USCIS.gov or at a townhall-style meeting. In those cases, reaching out to your outside legal counsel together with your employee, is a good option that may help answer questions promptly. This may help mitigate employees' worries among immigration-related uncertainty and enable them to focus on their jobs, such as taking care of patients.
Business Immigration Lawyer
For H-1B, TN, or Employer-Driven Green Card training, explore information at LINK and training at Corporate Immigration Compliance Institute
This information is not legal advice, it is general information that may be inapplicable to your matter.
