According to the Associated Press, a federal indictment was unsealed last week that names a Salt Lake City law firm, three attorneys, and five other employees, alleging visa fraud and alien smuggling.  Allegedly the majority of 700 visa petitions (resulting in over 5,000 visas) filed by the Alcala Law Firm were fraudulent. 

The alleged conspiracy involved the somewhat controversial H-2B visa program, which allows foreign nationals to enter into the U.S. temporarily and engage in nonagricultural employment which is seasonal, intermittent, a peak load need, or a one-time occurrence.  In order to qualify for the H-2B program, the foreign national must either already be in the U.S. in legal status or have lived outside the U.S. for at least six months before filing. The indictment claims the defendants instructed employers  to have their employees, who were working illegally, to go back to Mexico and not tell U.S. consular personnel who interviewed them that they had been in the United States unlawfully.  

This is likely a situation that the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association (“AILA”), of which I am a member, would argue is the exception, not the rule.  But, it isn’t that hard to see how these type of situations happen.  As an immigration attorney, I have been approached by companies who depend heavily on unlawful workers and are seeking a way to “legalize” these employees. Unfortunately, until some sort of an amnesty program is created, there are very few options in these circumstances.  Until then, I am guessing immigration attorneys will be far more careful when advising clients in similar situations.

Tags: AILA, Alcala Law Firm, American Immigration Lawyer's Association, H-2B, immigration, Immigration Attorney, Salt Lake City Law Firm, Visa Fraud

This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 3:37 pm and is filed under employment law, immigration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.