Employing Strategic Immigration Practices to Leverage U.S. Immigration Regulation & Policy to Gain Competitive Advantage in the 21st Century Age of Technology

Blair Wheat, General Counsel, LHP Engineering Solutions, USA

Immigration law is one of the most dynamic and complex segments of U.S. jurisprudence. Not only does one have to traverse through the web of executive agencies to determine how specific powers and responsibilities are split; one must also navigate the labyrinth of applicable statutes, regulations, policies, and precedent for each agency. To complicate matters even more, executive agencies are known by acronyms and visa categories are named according to the corresponding letter of the statute. So an H-1B may be delayed in processing by an RFE issued by USCIS based on information in the LCA that was filed with the OFLC on ETA Form 9035 & 9035A. For these reasons, immigration law is affectionately referred to as the “Alphabet Soup of Visas” and the “ABCs of Executive Agencies” by those who practice this discipline.