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| Immigration Update |
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Topic: What to
do now that the H1B Cap has been reached for 2004?
On February 17, 2004, the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had
received sufficient H1B applications for this year's cap
of 65, 000 for new employment. This announcement meant
that the USCIS had reached the cap for the entire fiscal
year and therefore was no longer accepting petitions for
new employment.
The impact of this announcement
weighs heavily on those who are currently in the U.S. in
F-1 status. Students that are completing their optional
practical training will be unable to apply for H-1B
status to allow them to work until October 1, 2004. It
is uncertain what the USCIS will do in response to this
issue. However, in the past the USCIS made amendments to
bridge the gap between time and status in order to
alleviate this problem.
Issues concerning first
time individuals who request H-1B status are also raised
by this announcement. The USCIS will return the
petitions and those applying will have to re-apply for
the following year. The applications to the USCIS can be
accepted six months in advance and therefore for the
year 2005 cases can be submitted as early as April 1,
2004.
Although the H-1B cap has been reached
mid-way through the year, some remain unaffected.
Included are those individuals requesting changes in
employment, concurrent employment, those seeking
extensions, those seeking amendments of their H-1B
status and a few other special circumstances.
For now, however, the USCIS has not responded to
this issue and it remains to be seen what will occur.
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| Some Unknown Facts Regarding
Franchise Laws |
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To most, franchise laws
represent the regulation of such business establishments
as McDonalds, Starbucks, Denny's or other chain
ventures, that are widely disbursed across the country.
However, many other businesses are falling under these
same laws and may be unaware of such governmental
restrictions. A company wishing to expand its business
may be forced to operate under franchise laws. The
growth of a corporation leads to many changes involving
the dissemination of products and therefore the
distribution of the company's trademark. Franchise laws,
therefore, may apply to a company in order to regulate
the distribution of goods and services and force the
company to operate under a new set of laws.
A
company may not believe themselves to be a "franchise"
and therefore may initially operate under a license
agreement. However, an increased number of license
agreements have begun to fall under the regulation of
franchise laws. This is a result of the increased number
of franchise companies within the industry. Recent years
have lead to more and more franchise operations,
consequently attempted avoidance of franchise laws has
increased. As a result strict laws were developed in
order to regulate franchise offers.
With the
widespread growth of such companies which otherwise
would not be considered franchises per se, regulations
have been placed upon operations and the government has
assumed more control over many businesses. Laws
governing these companies range from trademark
registration to licensing laws. Many smaller companies
that are unaware that they fall under franchise laws may
have a difficult time following franchise regulations
due to inexperience and lack of education. As a
consequence, many companies find themselves in
situations where they are more inclined to break the
laws simply due to ignorance.
Therefore, if a
company is expanding or distributing goods using a
trademark it is highly likely that it will fall under
the franchise law regulations within the United States.
The industry the business engages in is not
determinative of whether or not the business will be
regarded as a franchise due to the fact that franchise
laws are pervasive. In conclusion, if one is creating a
new business it is wise to education oneself with regard
to franchise laws.
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| Is the US Economy
Improving? |
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Although the U.S. economy is
not dramatically recovering, economic indicators have
begun to show a hope of revival. An economic indicator
that changes before the economy has changed is referred
to as a "leading indicator." The two largest
contributors of the leading indicators, money supply and
interest rate spread, are positive, resulting in a 0.8
percent increase in March of 2004. Also, all coincident
indicators, which vary directly with the related
economic trend thereby providing information about the
current state of the economy, increased in March and
February of this year by 0.2 by 0.3 percent,
respectively. This rate of growth is somewhat
disappointing but it is not a negative sign as it is not
below zero.
The rising prices of energy and
other industrial commodities, the rising interest, and a
possibility of terrorist attack on the U.S. can
moderately affect the inflation but the National
Association of Business Economists (NABE) do not believe
the world's largest economy will be derailed that
easily. NABE recently altered its forecast for U.S.
gross domestic product (GDP) growth from 4.6 percent to
4.7 percent based on employment growth. Further, the
unemployment rate is expected to go down to 5.5 percent
in 2004 and to 5.3 percent in 2005. In sum, economic
experts look forward to more positive trends.
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