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Immigration Law Consulting for HR Personnel & HR Departments

I have practiced law for over 35 years. For much of my career I have provided immigration counsel to families, individuals and businesses in North Carolina, throughout the United States, and around the world.

Immigration laws are complex. For employers, immigration-related laws are not just about getting an H-1B or L-1 visa for an employee, or sponsoring an employee for permanent residence ("green card"). Employers have to deal with immigration-related required documents, retention of immigration-related documents, Forms I-9s and many other employer sanctions laws. There are many laws relating to foreign workers, immigration and employee eligibility requiring strict employer compliance practices.

Immigration law is federal law. I am licensed to provide immigration counsel throughout the United States—so wherever you are located I can assist you with immigration and visa matters.

The fact is that most companies with less than $250 million annual sales struggle with hiring and training sufficient in-house personnel to handle government regulations—especially immigration-related regulations. Even large corporations have employer sanctions law compliance issues.

Immigration-related regulations are extensive: Forms I-9, employment eligibility verification compliance and retention; H-1B employee wages, place of employment and public information file retention; public information file retention for employer-based permanent residents; wage and hour law violations for H-1B employees; general employer sanctions laws, including terminating foreign national employees.

Employer penalties for violating these laws vary from extensive criminal venalities and fines, to exorbitant civil penalties.

Your company by law is required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each worker. The civil employer sanctions laws for Form I-9 penalties range from $375 for each worker to $16,000 for each worker for knowing violations. The civil venalities for merely failing to comply with these regulations range from $110 to $1,100 for each I-9 Form. Your company and its key supervisors also incur criminal penalties for certain Form I-9 violations, including up to six months in jail and fines of up to $3,000 for each unauthorized alien worker.

Who handles the immigration-related regulation compliance for your company? Do you have dedicated HR staff assigned to handle and review immigration-related regulatory compliance? Does your company have anyone assigned to supervise immigration-related compliance? Is immigration-related compliance generally assigned to an already overworked HR staff person? Do you pay your outside legal counsel $400--$1,000 an hour to advise your HR with their questions concerning employer sanctions laws and immigration-related regulatory compliance? If your company pays your legal counsel $400 or more and hour, does your HR staff feel comfortable picking up the phone and calling them with their everyday questions?

How often does your company's executive management review your company's employer sanctions laws compliance practices? How often does your company conduct an in-house audit of your employer sanctions compliance practices?

How much of your employer sanctions laws compliance falls on your HR person or staff, and how extensive is their training?

I have been there with you. I know just how impactful a $10,000 or $50,000 or $100,000 fine can be to the bottom line. I know how disruptive government audits are to a businesses on-going operations.

I provide immigration consulting to business human resource (HR) staff at very reasonable cost. I offer retainers from a minimum of 4 hours immigration consulting for $750, and 8 hours of immigration consulting for $1,000. If retained by your company, I am accessible by phone or for on-site consulting. Additional immigration consulting services, including training seminars, are available.

For solutions to your immigration concerns call experienced North Carolina immigration attorney Gerald Goulder at Goulder Immigration Law Firm (336) 808-1119 or ask him a question using this online email form: