The title, a Jeff Foxworthy quote, aptly describes the current state of workplace regulation nationwide.  In the past week, I had conversations with immigration attorney friends in different states and each made essentially the same comment: with all the changes occurring in their OWN state and hardly keeping up, how on earth am I keeping the i9 Advantage regulatory map current??  My response: I’m NOT! )-:Much to my embarrassment, our map is less than perfect simply because the amount of time required to monitor I-9 and employment verification legislation being churned out en masse by state legislatures is simply more than I can dedicate to the mission.  Now, that being said, I can tell you this:  I am not aware of anyone out there with a more current and up to date leg…

…well, then www.i9advantage.com has every right to be blushing: our competition is starting to look, well, a LOT more like us!  As we scour the Web daily to keep our clients and readers up to date with the latest developments in workforce compliance, part of our searches includes our competitors.  Funny how the release of that priceless, excruciatingly-difficult-to-design-and-execute State Legislative Map has triggered a whole bunch of lookalike maps on other sites (albeit linked to the same erroneous information as before in most cases.)   The fact is that a substantial amount of information we gather comes from attorneys, agency officials, and others those of us at i9A have befriended in our two-plus decades of trying to keep employers safe and sound.  As an at…

[NOTE: first of all, a quick apology to those of you who expressed concern over the absence of blogs for the past couple of weeks; I am quite fine and in fact, better than when I last wrote you.  I took two weeks off to take the U.S. Coast Guard 100 Ton Captain’s License course I’ve been wanting to take since I was a wee lad…and I passed!  I should have told you what I was up to so the greatly exaggerated rumors of my death could have been prevented…but thanks for the love!- JEL]The Associated Press reported Friday that 69 people were picked up in what I believe to be among the first-ever raids targeting a temporary employment agency.  More on the raids in a minute, but I will begin by telling you that I see this as a continued step toward increased enforcement in places…

Well, despite two phone calls from reputable Chamber of Commerce folks in key Arizona cities, I resisted the urge to report on their stories of employers "playing ostrich" and simply ignoring the new mandate on electronic verification of new hires.  I verified the two opinions with a couple of other contacts in the state, yet I didn't write anything, because it all sounded so…I don't know…tabloid???Well, I got scooped by the Associated Press, and it is official:"An immigration official says a large percentage of Arizonabusinesses aren't using a federal database to check the work eligibility oftheir employees, as they are required to do by state law." Do you suppose that has anything to do with the fact that Congress has yet to give our friends at…

This from DHS: a pending regulation will prohibit employers from filing multiple H-1b petitions for a foreign national.  My prediction: this will very adversely affect the leaders of the IT sector.  Why? Glad you asked…Not many folks sit around pondering the unponderable as much as I do, and it is for this reason that I am such a font of useful and useless information.  This one is useful, but first a question:Q: How do the big, foreign-based H-1B mega-users manage to staff so well despite the fact that 4 out of 5 new H-1Bs filed in April don't make the 65,000 cap?A:  They file multiple petitions.That is correct, even with filing fees as astronomical as they are, the profits are even MORE astronomical, so the filing of 2,3, or even five petitions for the SAME new…

…GOOD GRIEF what have I gotten myself into?  Here I am thinking this blog will be a nice little writing outlet but a hyper-caffeinated Chertoff and minions have me playing Headline News…here's the latest from that wacky cast of characters in your national capitol…-USCIS announced today that on June 16, 2008, it will beginaccepting Premium Processing Service requests for Forms I-140 (ImmigrantPetition for Alien Worker) filed on behalf of certain alien workers who arenearing the end of their sixth year in H-1B nonimmigrant status.  I know a lot of good folks who will smile at that one. (-:-The Washington Times yesterday FINALLY relayed the news of the federal contractor mandate with E-Verify days after your faithful immigration bloodhound reported it.  Am I cool or …

Yesterday was a busy immigration day in Washington: not only did the President finally invoke the long-promised mandate of requiring E-Verify from all federal contractors, but two of his execs hunkered down for a rather verbose press conference dubbed the "State of Immigration Address".  Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff (a/k/a Bush's lead immigration enforcer) and Commerce Secretary Gutierrez (who appeared more because of his surname than because of his contributions to the issue at hand) waxed poetic on a bunch of stuff, so I'm culling the "Employer Relevant" nitty gritty for you from the transcript, write me if you have questions…On 2-year EADs- Employment Authorization Documents will be issued with a 2 year validity period beginning later this mo…

Folks, if you are finding my blog and our efforts at i9 Advantage worthwhile, I have a big favor to ask of you: PLEASE write me if you hear of passed or proposed legislation, executive orders, and the like in your state.  I cannot tell you how much time we are investing into bringing you the best, most current, and most useful employment verification legislation status map in the galaxy.  Despite our efforts, the amount of state legislation is staggering, and it seems like every day I hear of some law which passed SOMEWHERE and, somehow, I’d missed it in my canvassing state legislative websites and the myriad other resources out there.If you get wind of some new proposed legislation in your state, or perhaps that the state has announced the governor’s executive order mandating so…

President Bush signed an executive order today mandating what his administration has long promised: E-Verify mandated for all federal contractors. The Nutshell: All agencies and departments of the Executive branch of the federal government must require their contractors to use an electronic employment verification system. What You Need to Do: If you are not using E-Verify — and the vast majority of U.S. companies with federal contracts or subcontracts do NOT — you MUST begin to do so.The Big Problem: the E-Verify interface remains complex and cumbersome and does not provide a full spectrum employment verification solution The Smart Solution: Click on www.i9advantage.com, the I-9 solution of choice for America’s leading employers and industries, and don’t miss a single federal contracting…