At CYA, we aspire to be “trusted advisors” to our clients.  In addition to obtaining visas for our clients, we also provide a wide variety of related services.

Strategic planning a company’s immigration needs involves helping companies maximize the availability and deployment of their worldwide human capital. This includes advising entrepreneurs or established companies who are opening operations in the U.S. how to structure their business to support obtaining appropriate immigration visas.  Strategic planning also entails creating a multi-year plan of action for an individual employee, as well as making sure visa acquisition is compatible with the ebb and flow of visa availability.

We also believe that it is extremely helpful for a company to have its own corporate immigration policy and we help companies create such policies.  Sponsoring employees for immigration visas and permanent resident status should be viewed as a benefit and each company should create its own rules and procedures.

The policy should address issues such as:

• When will it sponsor individuals for non-immigrant visas?
• How long must an individual be employed before being sponsored for permanent resident status?
• Will the company pay the fees and costs for dependents?
• Will the company ask an individual to contribute to the fees associated with immigrant visa processing?
• Will the employee be asked to reimburse the company if the employee voluntarily terminates his/her employment?

Dealing with these issues in advance can enhance the company’s reputation in the immigrant community, can avoid resentments and misunderstandings, and can optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s immigration efforts.

Strategic Planning

CYA offers strategic planning advice and support in the following areas:

• Addressing the company’s staffing needs in the present and future, and how the use of immigration visas can help the company meet those needs;
• Creating an annual plan and budget for the use of immigration visas;
• Issues related to corporate formation, job descriptions, and job titles;
• Assisting recruiters and HR professionals in assessing the visa eligibility and suitability of potential candidates;
• Devising an individual immigration plan for a specific employee taking into consideration the individual’s eligibility for a variety of immigration visas, the duration of visa eligibility, and the path to permanent resident status;
• Producing a plan that takes into account the ebb and flow of immigration visa availability, both on a global and an individual level, from visitor or student status through an employment-based non-immigrant visa, to permanent resident status;
• For multi-national companies, creating policies and an overall plan of action as to which employees can enter the United States in B-1 (visitor for business) status versus which employees will need work visas;
• Conduct periodic audits on the immigration status of company employees to make sure the company and the individual are in full compliance;
• Initiating strategies, policies, and procedures to protect the client from potential fines or penalties in the areas of I-9 compliance, prevailing wage and H-1B audits, and labor certification processing;
• Helping companies create policies and procedures to be able to obtain favorable prevailing wage determinations.