BUSINESS IMMIGRATION

This course will provide an overview of business immigration law, with a particular focus on how various federal administrative agencies are engaged in shaping a complex, multidisciplinary immigration law ecosystem for employers. In addition to a substantive overview of nonimmigrant and immigrant visa classifications throughout the course, we will explore how immigration laws are informed by, and overlap with, other key areas such as corporate and securities law, employment and labor law and tax law. Topics will include entity formation of new businesses; visa challenges in entrepreneurship; immigration obstacles faced by multinational businesses; immigration consequences of mergers and acquisitions; the intersection of business immigration with employment laws; enforcement trends targeted at employers; and the role of the IRS and tax laws in business immigration. We will also briefly review administrative law basics, explore the parameters of executive power in shaping business immigration law, and examine the plenary power of the President over immigration. Throughout the course, we will discuss how debates about outsourcing, unemployment and national security, among others, inform a complex national discussion about business immigration. We will also identify, examine and discuss core professional responsibility issues that arise in business immigration practice. There are no prerequisites for this course. There is no writing requirement, but there will be weekly quizzes and a final examination. Class attendance and participation are essential.