United States | Post US election: What now for immigration and tax?

President-elect Donald Trump will be heading back to the White House and his Republican Party will also be in control in at least one of the two legislative chambers, the Senate. The control of the other chamber—the House of Representatives—remains uncertain at the time of writing, but if the Republicans retain control, President-elect Trump’s ability to pass legislation will increase. 

As immigration policy will be a top priority for the newly elected President (as noted in his first interview following his win), companies should be prepared for a flurry of already-drafted, immigration-related executive actions, which do not need additional approvals, to be published soon after his inauguration day on January 20, 2025, and within the first 100 days of the new administration. Mobility professionals should take proactive measures in the run-up to the inauguration to prepare. 

We anticipate changes to tax legislation as well, but this will take a longer time so no immediate action is required. However, mobility professionals should stay apprised of the tax process as it unfolds during 2025.

Based on Vialto’s understanding of the new administration’s objectives, here are some key areas companies should focus on in the coming months:

(1 ) Make sure your immigration program is compliant with immigration regulations

Immigration compliance will play a major role in a new Trump administration. Companies should anticipate that the new administration will greatly strengthen governmental agencies to investigate and possibly sanction companies over non-compliance. Companies should therefore assess the level of their immigration compliance and take prompt corrective measures if lapses are identified.  

How can Vialto help? Immigration Program Compliance reviews and compliance tools.

Vialto offers a complete immigration program assessment focusing on areas of non-compliance and offering remedial actions. The review may include: 

• Review of your immigration policies, recruiting, hiring and employment practices 
• I-9/E-Verify policies and practices 
• Data retention processes. 

Vialto also offers several compliance tools that will ensure companies continue to remain compliant with immigration and labor laws, including our Form I-9 Compliance tool.  

(2) Assess who among your population are most at risk of losing work authorization or legal status in the US

Spokespersons for the new administration have previously indicated they will eliminate protections for certain categories of immigrants who are in the United States and currently have work authorization. The populations that are the most at-risk of losing their immigration status and work authorization in the US, because they were granted either by executive order or by immigration agency action, rather than law, include the following:

• Citizens of Ukraine, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Haiti who were granted temporary status under the prior administration (Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) holders)
• Individuals who applied for status under specific programs that provided temporary status in the US:
  • A program entitled “Keeping Families Together,” which allowed for the spouses and children of US citizens, who were themselves not US citizens but had lived in the US for at least 10 years, to remain
  • DACA holders and US college graduates who have received special concessions to enter the US despite being otherwise ineligible to do so (waivers).
• A spouse of a specific visa holder (such as the H1-B) who themselves hold  Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) (such as the H-4)

How can Vialto help? Visa impact assessments.

Vialto can perform a visa impact assessment to identify alternative options. 

(3) Review your foreign national population and see who may be impacted by a potential travel ban or slowdown in travel

The newly elected administration has previously indicated that they will implement travel bans on citizens from certain countries. The travel bans will be similar to ones that President Trump instituted in his first administration, which introduced blanket bans on specific nationalities.   Accordingly, there are several steps that companies can take to prepare: 

• Identify all employees who may be impacted by future visa and entry bans. Based on the previously implemented bans during the first Trump administration, these countries will likely include Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.  The list may now extend to include nationals from China, as well as Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank
• Consider making a recommendation to impacted employees to temporarily restrict international travel from the US in case a travel ban affecting distinct categories of employees is announced.

How can Vialto help? Webinars on potential travel impacts and training for HR professionals.

Vialto can provide educational town halls to HR professionals and employees that may be impacted, as well as recommendations on what to do if they are abroad when a travel ban is issued.  

(4) Inventory your entire foreign national population

Given the realistic potential to see travel bans and slowdowns of visa issuance at the US State Department (US Immigration department), we would strongly recommend companies create an inventory of their non-citizen population and confirm:

• Current immigration status and type of US work authorization
• Country of origin 
• Countries of recent travel
• Current location if outside the United States. 

Please note that It is possible that even green card holders may be at risk of being temporarily stranded abroad if new and likely enhanced travel bans are announced without forewarning.

How can Vialto help? Impact assessments on your foreign national population.

Vialto’s advisory team can review your entire population and determine which employees may be impacted. We can also provide town hall meetings and one-on-one information sessions to support these populations.

(5) Develop an internal communications strategy

Companies should consider creating a dedicated internal communications strategy to cascade alerts and corporate policies relating to any developments of importance or concern. 

How can Vialto help? Develop strategies and communications to send to impacted employees.

Vialto can help develop a communications strategy and draft communications to send to impacted employees on recent immigration changes or corporate policies. Vialto can work with HR professionals to support non-citizen workers to provide reassurance and help them deal with the challenges ahead through open houses, office hours, and one-on-one consultations.

(6) Increase awareness of potential tax law changes

Tax law changes will go through the legislative process rather than executive action, so immediate changes are not expected. Remain aware of the direction tax legislation discussions take in 2025 once the new Congress sits, including these focus areas for mobility professionals:

• Generally minimal change to corporate and individual tax rates is expected since the current rates were established during the first Trump administration and are broadly supported for permanent extension
• Removal of or increase to the state and local tax deduction cap of $10,000
• Any movement to tax US citizens on the basis of residence and not citizenship, mentioned by President-elect Trump during the campaign, which could decrease tax and administrative costs for US citizens living outside of the US and could potentially decrease equalization costs
• For programs with assignees earning overtime pay, if overtime becomes exempt from tax, there may be opportunities for labor planning to reduce employer and employee tax costs but would also require additional tracking mechanisms to determine nontaxable portions of wages.

How can Vialto help? Develop strategies and communications to send to impacted employees.

Vialto will continue providing you with updates on the progression of legislative activity through webinars, alerts and tailored advice through your engagement team. We can assist with reviewing your mobility and tax policies and updating program cost assumptions with respect to any tax law changes and help you to communicate those changes to internal stakeholders.

Upcoming Webinars

We know there are many questions around how immigration and tax will change in the next few months.  Accordingly, Vialto will host a series of post-election webinars in the weeks ahead to help you navigate through this time period.  Below is a schedule of our upcoming webinars. 

Thursday, November 14th at 1:30pm EST: Preparing for the impact of a President Trump administration on US immigration and tax policy
Register here

Wednesday, November 20th at 11:00am EST: What anticipated immigration policy changes in the United States could mean for global immigration
Register here

Contact us
For a deeper discussion on the above, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or alternatively:

Immigration:
Manish Daftari
Partner
Angelo Paparelli
Partner

Tax:
Julie Baron
Partner
Ron Schiess
Partner

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