With President Trump and his new administration now in place in the United States and elections changing the policy landscapes in numerous other countries around the world, companies that rely on global talent are preparing for potential shifts in immigration policy. Fee increases, evolving compliance requirements, adjudication and processing challenges, and heightened scrutiny could create both challenges and opportunities for global mobility teams. To understand how organizations are responding, we spoke with Dianne Couto Foutz, global mobility leader at Pegasystems Inc., and Courtney B. Noce, co-chair of the immigration and compliance practice at Greenberg Traurig LLP.
Managing Rising Costs and Increased Scrutiny
Changes in administration often bring shifts in immigration policy, including potential fee increases and new procedural hurdles. Both Foutz and Noce highlight how organizations are adapting to these changes by leveraging past data to anticipate cost fluctuations and increasing investment in expedited processing.
“In the last few months, I have gained consensus from the business to change our internal procedure to include premium processing for non-immigrant work permits. Also, to include flights for the employee, when a consular application is available,” Foutz says. “Using data of our approval/denials during the last administration and cost projections for each methodology we could take, I was able to build consensus for a more aggressive approach to hopefully secure the most positive results.”
Noce emphasizes that while cost increases are difficult to predict, past trends can help businesses prepare. “While we cannot predict government fee increases and the need for increased services with certainty, we are able to use past data to help companies and clients more accurately plan for the likelihood of future increased costs. Those increases include a combination of traditional costs, such as government fees and expedited processing, but also the potential for increased prevailing wages, as well as travel costs associated with potential delays in visa processing at consulates abroad,” she says.
Noce also notes a shift in corporate budgeting, stating, “One major shift we are seeing with our clients is an expansion of the internal stakeholders involved in setting or increasing the immigration budget. These conversations are now being had at a higher and broader level, as the costs may have a more significant impact on the business operations.”
Aligning Business and HR Teams on Immigration Strategy
The heightened focus on immigration during the presidential election led to a stronger presence for global mobility leaders in corporate decision-making. “The focus on immigration during the presidential election gave rise to increased involvement of stakeholders at many companies and institutions that may not previously have focused significantly on immigration matters,” Noce says.
“This increase in involvement has given a larger number of corporate immigration leaders a seat at the table in many corporations when it comes to planning purposes. As lawyers, we are regularly engaging with teams composed of various business leaders on comprehensive planning, training, and communication initiatives all related to immigration. Corporate compliance, cost, and business continuity are at the forefront of these initiatives.”
At Pegasystems, Foutz has led efforts to enhance communication and collaboration. “In the last year, we have made our communication and resources more robust with a Global Mobility Portal. Our internal resources have built a bot that is able to generate responses pulled from the various FAQs. Also, we have established a WebEx announcement space to share alerts. We will also provide additional meetings as needed,” she says.
She also shares that the company has enhanced its compliance: “From a compliance perspective, we have been able to enhance our HRIS system, which has been leveraged to include global mobility in our terms and conditions notifications.”
Training and Proactive Communication
Both experts emphasize the importance of proactive training to help HR, recruiting, and business teams navigate the complexities of immigration.
“Training with our recruiting and service team is yearly and scheduled for the next few weeks,” Foutz says. “We also have a monthly meeting with managers and will add sessions with impacted employees as needed.”
Noce stresses the importance of ongoing education. “A major focus for our legal team has always been proactive training and communication with our clients. It is extremely important that those individuals managing corporate immigration programs understand what to expect from an immigration process,” she says. “Our team further increased communication and training initiatives last year and expect that to continue well given the new administration. Proactive client communication is particularly critical in a rapidly changing immigration landscape to help ensure that internal immigration team members are able to better support both the legal process and any potential emotional toll a process may have on foreign national employees.”
To ensure comprehensive communication, Noce’s team employs multiple methods. “A comprehensive communications initiative requires a variety of different forms of communication including webinars, lunch and learns, FAQs, emails, as well as video and written training materials,” she says.