Immigration concerns do not drive merger and acquisition decisions, but it would be a mistake to overlook immigration-related status and compliance issues when considering a corporate restructuring. Consider the telecommunications corporation that acquires a small start-up for its cutting-edge technology and afterward discovers that the founder of the start-up, whose expertise is critical to the deal, is ineligible for employment with the acquiring corporation for the duration of the government’s fiscal year.
Or consider the merger of IT consulting firms where neither firm anticipates filing fees and costs in excess of $100,000 resulting from amending Immigration and Naturalization Service petitions for 200 employees. Or the acquisition in which the acquiring company unwittingly assumes substantial civil exposure based on the acquired company’s I-9 violations.
