The IRS and the FICA, FUTA and Federal Income Tax Traps for Employers with Non-Resident Alien Employees

With all of the payroll complexities that employers face, it is no surprise that a special set of rules that applies to only a small category of employees is frequently overlooked. Often, to the surprise of payroll and human resources staff, special Federal Insurance Contributions Act (“FICA,” composed of Social Security and Medicare taxes), Federal …

ESTA-Like Registration Process Spreads to Europe for U.S. Citizens’ Travel in 2021

Several media outlets recently reported on a new pre-registration requirement for U.S. citizens traveling to any of the 26 Schengen-area countries, plus additional participating European countries and microstates (34 total at present), which will become effective on January 1, 2021.    The ETIAS registration will also apply to citizens of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, Japan, New …

New Change/Extension of Status Forms (I-539/I-539A) Become Effective on March 22 – What is new (Biometrics for babies…)?

The use of new forms (Form I-539 and a new I-539A) seems like a very mundane subject to merit an alert, but indeed coming right before the start of the fiscal year 2020 H-1B cap filing season in April of 2019, it deserves attention and concern. On March 8, USCIS published a new I-539 form …

Employers Heads Up! – Spotting TPS Beneficiaries of the March 2019 Automatic Extension

On March 1, 2019, a notice was published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)[1] announcing that beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from: Sudan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and El Salvador will continue to retain their TPS status while the preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in Ramos …

Avoiding Claims of Citizenship and National Origin Discrimination When Interviewing, Hiring, and Onboarding Foreign Workers

It is illegal to discriminate on the basis of citizenship or national origin in recruiting, hiring, onboarding, or employing workers.  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) as well as the Immigration Reform and Control Act (“IRCA”) impose penalties on employers engaging in discriminatory employment practices.  While prohibitions against citizenship and …

About Our Blog

Welcome to the Immigration Insights and Issues Blog! (III Blog for short) Immigration policies and practices are ever changing due to the political nature of the area and the complexity of the legal issues related to the subject.  We and our clients are subject to the whims of adjudication shifts based on Executive Orders or …