Fowler White Corporate eNews

Additional Filing Fees Required for Certain H-1B, L-1A and L-1B Petitions

Effective immediately, employers submitting certain H-1B petitions and certain L-1A and L-1B petitions must pay an additional filing fee of $2,000 and $2,250 respectively, for petitions postmarked on or after Aug. 14, 2010. The additional fees apply to petitioners who employ 50 or more employees in the United States with more than 50 percent of its employees in the United States in H-1B or L (including L-1A, L-1B and L-2) nonimmigrant status. Petitioners meeting these criteria must submit the fee with an H-1B or L-1 petition filed: initially to grant an alien nonimmigrant status, or to obtain authorization for an alien having such status to change employers. USCIS is revising the Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker (Form I-129), and instructions to comply with this new requirement.

To facilitate implementation of the requirement, USCIS recommends that all H-1B, L-1A and L-1B petitioners, as part of the filing packet, include the new fee or a statement of other evidence outlining why this new fee does not apply. USCIS asks that petitioners include a notation of whether the fee is required in bold capital letters at the top of the cover letter. If USCIS does not receive such an explanation, it may issue a Request for Evidence to determine whether the petition is covered by the new requirement. If such evidence is submitted, but questions remain, an RFE may still be issued.

The additional fee, if applicable, is in addition to the base processing fee, the existing Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee, and any applicable American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (ACWIA) fee, as well as any premium processing fees. Contact Fowler White Boggs Immigration Practice Leader, William J. Flynn, for more information.

Law and Order: Workplace Edition (Penalties, Liabilities and Enforcement...oh my!)

Board Certified immigration attorney, Jennifer G. Roeper, will be a panelist at the South Palm Beach County Bar Association's Labor and Employment Law Committee seminar on September 29, 2010 at the Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center. The seminar will focus on the possible fines, penalties and other actions that can be imposed against employers by various state and federal agencies. Click here for more details.

SEC OKs Giving Shareholders More Power to Nominate Directors

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted 3-2 to approve new rules giving shareholders new powers to nominate directors to corporate boards. Supporters say the rules will give shareholders the ability to hold boards accountable for overseeing executive pay and other decisions that companies make.
Read full story at The Washington Post (free reg. req'd).

Ruling in "Honest Services" Lawsuit Could Have Broad Implications

The decision to dismiss a seven-year-old corporate-fraud case against Westar Energy -- among the first "honest services" prosecutions the government has dropped since the Supreme Court's ruling -- underscores the challenges the government now faces in such cases. Over the last two decades, the Justice Department has aggressively used the honest services law to bring fraud charges against an array of defendants, like local politicians accused of graft and corporate executives charged with looting their companies.
Read full story at The New York Times (free reg. req'd).

Big Names Giving Boost to IPO Market as Deals Start to Pick Up

The initial public offering market is beginning to warm from recession lows, and with big name deals such as General Motors and Toys "R" Us looming on the horizon large IPOs appear to be gaining momentum. According to analytical firm Dealogic, 2010 year to date has brought $138.74 billion in priced initial public offerings globally, well above the $114.8 billion and $102.1 billion the IPO market priced for the entire years of 2009 and 2008, respectively.
Read full story at Fox Business.

IPO Backlog Could Have Adverse Effect on Mergers and Acquisitions

The sudden spate of deals -- from BHP Billiton's $38.6 billion offer for Potash Corp. to Hewlett-Packard's deal jump for 3Par against Dell -- has investors and many on Wall Street speculating that the sputtering mergers and acquisitions activity has finally broken through. But if there isn't already enough evidence coming from dealmakers and observers to suggest the recent M&A volume may be short-lived, another market, that for initial public offerings, may yield the most damning evidence of all.
Read full story at The Wall Street Journal.

Venture Capital Firms Having Trouble Raising New Funds

It has become increasingly difficult for venture capital firms to raise new funds, and even those that are successful are often unable to meet their fund-raising goals. Money flowing into venture funds slowed to a seven-year low in the second quarter, as just 38 U.S. venture capital funds raised $1.9 billion, according to the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters.
Read full story at Reuters.

10-Year Venture Capital Returns Show Negative Results

Silicon Valley has passed an important milestone that may mark the end of one era and the beginning of another. This dividing line in history was revealed this summer in the latest report from the National Venture Capital Association, which showed that 10-year returns on venture capital investments had turned negative at the end of 2009, and nose-dived during the first quarter of 2010.
Read full story at SiliconValley.com (free reg. req'd).

Corporations Sponsoring Programs to Boost Entrepreneurs' Ideas

Dozens of programs sponsored by corporations are casting a wider net for new business ideas, in the process creating opportunities for entrepreneurs. Cisco Systems, Netflix, and PepsiCo have launched competitions to incorporate outside ideas into their businesses, offering winners cash prizes or partnership opportunities.
Read full story at Bloomberg Businessweek.

IRS Says It Will Drop Tax Haven Lawsuit Against UBS

Switzerland said it expects to deliver account data on almost 4,450 UBS AG clients suspected by the U.S. of tax evasion, prompting the Internal Revenue Service to say it will drop a lawsuit against the bank within months. The dispute stems from a U.S. crackdown on offshore tax evasion, marked by an IRS lawsuit in February 2009 that sought data on as many as 52,000 UBS accounts.
Read full story at Bloomberg.

IRS Plans Move to Challenge Corporate Tax Strategies

Every year, thousands of the nation's largest corporations are required to report to the I.R.S. whether they have reduced their tax bills by using questionable accounting strategies, but the corporations are not obliged to reveal precisely what those uncertain tax positions are -- and if the I.R.S. does not manage to ferret them out and challenge them before the three-year statute of limitations expires, the companies can keep the money. Beginning next year, however, the IRS plans to mandate that corporations also provide a brief description of their uncertain tax positions and their rationale, offering essentially a road map for its auditors.
Read full story at The New York Times (free reg. req'd).

Microsoft Co-Founder Files Patent Suit Against Top Internet Firms

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen says he owns the technology behind a number of website ideas, and he's demanding that some of the world's top Web companies pay up to use them. The 57-year-old software guru sued much of Silicon Valley, claiming Internet giants such as Google, Facebook and eBay have built their businesses around what he says is his technology.
Read full story at The Wall Street Journal.

Capitol Investments Owner to Plead Guilty in $880M Ponzi Scheme

Nevin Shapiro, the former owner of Capitol Investments USA accused of leading an $880 million Ponzi scheme, is to plead guilty, court papers showed. Shapiro, 41, of Miami Beach, Florida, is charged with defrauding more than 60 investors in his bogus wholesale grocery distribution business.
Read full story at Bloomberg Businessweek.