The Relationship Between Unauthorized Practice of Law and Unauthorized Employment

There are people who confuse being entrepreneurial with being parasitic. Where an opportunity arises and there is significant demand and desperation, there are people who will, and have, taken advantage of those who wish to obtain such an opportunity.

Take for example this year’s H-1B lottery debacle, wherein more than 408,000 H-1B registrations were filed for the same 96,000 beneficiaries, leading USCIS to conclude that “several dozen small technology companies” colluded to submit multiple registrations to increase their odds of selection in the H-1B lottery.

USCIS has been actively engaged in investigating these companies and beneficiaries.

We are now seeing this with the sudden increase of O-1, NIW and EB-1A consultants offering immigration coaching and mentoring services on LinkedIn, specifically focusing on how to “build a profile” to be eligible for an O-1, NIW or EB-1A.

What are their qualifications? Simply one circumstance: being the beneficiary of their own O-1, NIW or EB-1A petition, which in most instances was prepared and filed by a qualified and experienced immigration attorney.

These individuals are taking advantage of the concern and desperation being experienced by individuals who were not selected in the H-1B lottery, and/or otherwise subject to the extensive delays in the availability of immigrant visa numbers because of the per-country restrictions.

Why do I take issue with this? Listen to the podcast and find out!