April 28, 2017
Some Immigration-related News 
   
Earlier this month, a new Executive Order concerning immigration was released by the Trump administration. In it there were no specific measures announced, but a clear intention to make it harder to companies looking to bring on board foreign employees, by increasing scrutiny and requirements for the visas that currently allow corporations to find the best talent overseas that they cannot hire domestically. This new policy has not affected any of our clients and there is nothing you should do about it. We believe this to be the wrong approach as U.S. companies are struggling to fill certain positions with U.S. workers, and the H-1B visa quota has to be increased to meet the demand for certain occupations such as in technology and engineering. 
The Importance of Having the Right People at the Right Time  

We want to share the story of Kornchai, who applied for an H-1B visa and was not chosen in the lottery the year before last, even though he had a U.S. master's degree in information technology. Still, we managed to work together and find another solution to get him a way to stay with his company and in the U.S. 

EY Studios is a U . S . -based company comprised of a team of designers, developers and account managers. They work with online-selling brands to make sure the performance of their eCommerce is fully optimized and it draws consumers into an immersive experience as well as it promotes sales. In order to achieve this, they create a tailored design for each of their client s based on data and complex algorithms. This means that they need very specialized and knowledgeable staff to meet the needs of their clients. Kornchai is one of their employees , a computer engineer from Thailand specialized in Magento computer programming.

He joined the team on a OPT (Optional Practical Training) visa as a Web Developer after his graduation from a U.S. master's degree program and the company wanted him to stay with them because he had knowledge of Magento, which is a rarely used computer language. Unfortunately, because of the limited H-1B cap and a quota system that is too low for professionals, his first H-1B application was not selected in the lottery , even though he had an advanced degree

The previous immigration lawyer they had hired did not offer any other avenues available but the company sought a second opinion from us. We evaluated the case and proposed a path to a green card so that Kornchai could stay in their team on a permanent basis and we are happy to report a happy result for both the company and Kornchai. You can find out more about the amazing work that EY Studios does here.
Invite other people to collaborate with you in order to find more creative solutions. Creative genius rarely appears as a flash of lightning of a mad scientist working alone in a vacuum. Collaboration with other people who are different than you gives you a different perspective and alternatives. Find other people who want to help you or who share your passion and create collaboration teams to find more creative solutions.