IMPACT OF ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE ON U.S. IMMIGRATION LAW
February 19, 2009
Economic Stimulus Package Prohibits Corporations Receiving TARP Funding From Hiring H-1B Workers without First Showing the Unavailability of Essentially Equally Qualified U.S. Workers
Effective February 17, 2009, employers receiving federal stimulus package funding will face additional requirements when hiring H-1B employees. Before hiring an H-1B worker, such employers must first attest that no "essentially equally qualified" U.S. worker has been or will be displaced by the H-1B worker. The company must also show that it has made affirmative efforts to first find a qualified U.S. worker for the position before hiring the H-1B employee, including through the training of existing employees. This will impact many banks, brokerage houses, and auto manufacturers who will receive funding from the federal government and who planned to file new April 1, 2009 H-1B petitions or other H-1B extensions for new hires.
Economic Stimulus Package Will Give More than $21.5 Billion to Scientific Research & Development
The final bill provides the National Institute of Health with an additional $10.4 billion in stimulus funding. Overall, basic competitiveness-related research, biomedical research, energy R&D, and climate change programs would be high priorities in the final economic recovery bill. The National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE OS), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will also receive significant boosts to their budgets. This increased funding may facilitate hiring of qualified highly skilled foreign national researchers in the private and non-profit research contexts.
Mandatory E-Verify Participation for All U.S. Employers Not Part of Final Stimulus Package
Participation in E-Verify remains optional for employers who do not do business in states that mandate participation, such as Arizona (see also our earlier alerts regarding mandatory E-Verify participation for certain federal contractors and sub-contractors). Despite early discussion of making E-Verify participation mandatory for United States employers benefitting from economic stimulus funds as part of the bill, the final law contains no such provision.
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