Hot Topic: Spotlight on Immigration
Posted on Thu, Jul 12, 2012
by Jeanette K. Phelan
You can’t pick up a newspaper these days in the U.S. without at least one article on immigration matters in the news. So many things are happening! For example, President Obama recently announced a Deferred Action Program for illegal immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children. The U.S. Supreme Court also recently ruled that Federal law preempts the controversial employment provisions of the Arizona Immigration Statute. Everywhere you look, people are talking about immigration.
Perhaps more important to U.S. employers than these “hot topics” is the actual daily dealings with job applicants. Each person who is hired by a US employer these days must fill out an I-9.
What is an I-9?
It’s a form issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (which is part of the Department of Homeland Security) which must be completed within the first 3 days of hire by each job holder here in the U.S. This two page form may look simple, but it is full of pitfalls. Correctly filling out an I-9 is extremely important to employers who wish to avoid costly penalties.
Why do employers fill out I-9s?
That’s a good question. Basically, employers are asked to fill out these forms to serve as the government’s front line in its offensive to prevent employment by unauthorized aliens. No, I don’t mean someone who comes from a different planet (though sometimes the government certainly makes an “alien” feel that way). I mean anyone who comes to the U.S. from another country without authorization. Correctly filling out an I-9 is a challenge. It is a challenge that every employer must take up. Why? They don’t have a choice. The government requires it!
Come learn about it for yourself! You won’t want to miss it!
Jeanette K. Phelan, of counsel with Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP in Winston-Salem, practices in the immigration section focusing on business immigration, with particular emphasis on labor certification and green card applications. Ms. Phelan has been an attorney for more than 17 years, and she has specialized in business immigration for the last 10 years.
Ms. Phelan is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American, Florida, Kentucky, and North Carolina Bar Associations.
