BridgehouseLaw: American - German Business Law

Chicken McNugget für $8100 versteigert

Only in America .... wird ein über drei Jahre altes Chicken McNugget für stolze $8100 versteigert. Das panierte Hähnchenstück ist so wertvoll, weil es eine verblüffende Ähnlichkeit zum Konterfei George Washingtons auf der 25 Cent Münze aufweist.

Der Erlös des Verkaufs soll Kindern den Aufenthalt in einem kirchlichen Sommercamp ermöglichen.

Den ganzen Artikel finden Sie hier.

(c) Picture: Spiegel Online

According to the administrative court of Koblenz, Germany, federal police may use skin color and appearance in general as a deciding factor in whom to spot check on rail lines that are frequently used by illegal immigrants.

In the case at hand, a police officer had asked a black German man to show ID. The man refused, being upset with being frequently selected for ID checks.

In court, the police officer explained he relied on his experience as a border patrol officer in deciding whom to spot check. One of his selection criteria was whether somebody looked foreign.

The court found that, in order to be more efficient, officers may use their experience when deciding whom to spot check. Whether this decision will spark racial profiling issues, like various U.S. immigration laws, remains to be seen.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

This is a friendly reminder that the Fiscal Year 2013 (FY2013) H-1B filing season will begin on Monday April 2, 2012. For the last several years the H-1B cap season has averaged nine months before all 65,000 H-1B regular cap slots were used. However, with the U.S. economy improving, some expect that the 65,000 H-1B regular cap slots will be used by Summer 2012, perhaps as soon as May 2012.

Any cap-subject H-1B petition that is filed after April 1 allows the Beneficiary to begin working in H-1B status on October 1, 2012. Students who hold F-1 OPT student status can remain with valid work authorization through October 1, 2012, provided that their H-1B Petition is field and accepted by USCIS.

H-1B cap-subject petitions include:

New overseas H-1B hires;
Beneficiaries on another non-immigrant status, such as H-4, L-1, or F-1;
H-1B workers who hold H-1B cap-exempt status by virtue of the filing of the H-1B with a University or research facility.

To read the full article, please click here.

Should you have any Immigration Law questions or concerns, please contact us.

Zieht man dauerhaft nach North Carolina, muss man als Autofahrer spätestens nach 60 Tagen einen Führerschein beantragen. Zudem muss man einen Führerschein aus North Carolina vorweisen, um ein Auto in North Carolina anzumelden.

Bis man seinen Führerschein aus North Carolina beantragt und bekommen hat, kann man mit seinem ausländischen Führerschein fahren. Der internationale Führerschein wird in North Carolina, wie in einigen anderen U.S. Bundesstaaten, dagegen nicht anerkannt.

Um Ihren North Carolina Führerschein zu beantragen, müssen Sie

Ihr Alter und Ihre Identität nachweisen. Dafür werden 2 Dokumente benötigt. Für Ausländer am einfachsten ist es, Ihren Reisepass mit dem I-94 Einreise-/Ausreise-Formular mitzubringen.

Ihre Social Security Card vorlegen.

Ihre Aufenthaltsberechtigung vorweisen. Dies kann z.B. mit dem I-94 bzw. Ihrem Visum erfolgen.

eine Haftpflichtversicherung für Ihr Fahrzeug nachweisen, z.B. durch eine Versicherungskarte Ihrer Versicherung.

Schließlich müssen Sie eine schriftliche und praktische Prüfung ablegen, als auch die notwendigen Gebühren entrichten. Genauere Informationen hierzu finden sich hier.

Die offizielle Webseite des N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles finden Sie im Übrigen hier.

In diesem Sinne: Gute Fahrt!

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

Das beantragen einer Sozialversicherungsnummer, die sog. Social Security Number (SSN), ist erfreulich einfach. Die Nummer wird nicht nur von Arbeitgebern benötigt, sie wird in den USA als allgemeines Personenkennzeichen verwendet und sollte daher möglich frühzeitig beantragt werden. Mit der SSN kann man erheblich einfacher mit Behörden und anderen Institution, wie z.B. Banken, geschäftlich in Kontakt treten.

Aktuell gelten die folgenden Voraussetzungen zur Beantragung:

Eine ausgefüllte Application for a Social Security Card (Form SS-5).
Zwei Original-Urkunden, die zusammen
- Ihre Identität,
- Ihr Alter,
- und ihren Einwanderungsstatus, aus der hervorgeht, dass Sie arbeitsberechtigt sind.

nachweisen.

Der Einwanderungsstatus kann z.B. mit den Formularen I-765 (work permit) oder I-94 (Arrival/Departure Record) belegt werden. In den meisten Fällen reicht das Formular I-94 aus.

Falls Sie mit mit einem F-1, M-1 oder J-1/2 Visum eingereist sind, gelten besondere Vorschriften, die Sie hier nachlesen können.

Mit diesen Dokumenten gehen Sie zu Ihrem örtlichen Social Security Office. Eine Suchmaschine dafür findet sich hier.

Es wird empfohlen, mit der Beantragung bis 10 Tage nach Ihrer Einreise zu warten, damit alle Informationen in den jeweiligen staatlichen Datenbanken eingepflegt sind und die Sozialversicherungsbehörde auf diese zugreifen kann. Das Beantragen einer Sozialversicherungsnummer ist kostenlos.

Die jeweils aktuellen Voraussetzungen für die Beantragung einer Social Security Number können Sie hier nachlesen. Gerne sind wir Ihnen bei der Beantragung der Social Security Number behilflich.

(c) Picture: Social Security Administration

The current October 2011 term of the United States Supreme Court is loaded with a number of high-profile cases. In this article, we will be highlighting three of the cases. We already published an article about the case challenging health care reform here.

Arizona v. U.S. will be heard April, 25, 2012, with a decision expected sometime late June. We previously informed you about Arizona S.B. 1070 on our blog. The law makes it illegal for an undocumented immigrant to apply for a job or be in the state of Arizona. Law enforcement is also given the right to arrest someone without a warrant if there is probable cause that the person has ever done something that would permit deportation.

The federal government filed suit, arguing that federal immigration laws “override” Arizona's laws. Two lower courts already agreed with the federal government.

One of the nine justices on the Supreme Court, Justice Kagan, was involved in Arizona v. U.S. in her previous role as United States Solicitor General. She has therefore recused herself, leaving the remaining eight justices to decide the case. The trial court's decision will stand if the Justices are evenly split.

The case is sure to be closely followed by all the other states who adopted similar laws to Arizona's S.B. 1070.

Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories Inc. has already been heard and decided. The case was about patentability and the scope of the prohibition on patenting natural laws, specifically regarding medical diagnostic tools.

In its opinion, the Court stated that “[i]f a law of nature is not patentable, then neither is a process reciting a law of nature, unless that process has additional features that provide practical assurance that the process is more than a drafting effort designed to monopolize the law of nature itself.” The Court went on to explain that the application of the law must be “inventive” in order for it to be patentable.

As Ronald Mann writes on his blog, the case will have a significant impact not only on the medical and biotech field, but also on the software industry. It is likely that the United States Patent Office will be less generous in granting patents.

A further case that has already been heard and decided is United States v. Jones, in which the government installed a GPS tracking device on the car of a nightclub operator to obtain evidence of his role in trafficking drugs. The problem was that the government did not obtain a warrant prior to the installation of the tracking device.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia quashed Jones's conviction on grounds that installing the GPS tracker without a warrant violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free of “unreasonable searches and seizures.” The Justices, however, were divided on why exactly using the GPS violated his rights, as blogger Amy Howe explains in her blog post. Nevertheless, at the end of the day,the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the police violated the Constitution when they placed a Global Positioning System tracking device Jones’s car and tracked its movements for 28 days.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

Today is the first of three days of oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court on the constitutionality of what is now generally known as ObamaCare, the epic 2010 health care overhaul law that in effect introduces mandatory health insurance by placing penalties on individuals who are uninsured. Arguments are scheduled for six hours over all - the longest in over 40 years. Experienced Supreme Court lawyers say that even a single 30-minute session is exhausting.

Today's Monday session is all about jurisdiction and whether the Court is barred from hearing the case until the first penalties are due in 2015. The proponents of this view point to the 1867 federal Anti-Injunction Act, which says “no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax shall be maintained in any court by any person.” Or, in other words, that filing suit does not postpone your duty to pay taxes.

Because penalties for not having insurance only start in 2014 and must be paid on federal tax returns in 2015, some, including two federal appeals courts, believe that federal courts are barred from hearing the case at this time.

However, neither side to the argument objects to having the Court decide now. At the appeals court, the Obama administration dropped its initial objection in favor of a swift decision. The question, therefore, is whether the Anti-Injunction Act is jurisdictional, i.e. whether it must be followed even though neither side is raising it.

The question of jurisdictionality, as applied to the health care law, is very exciting and nuanced. For example, is the penalty a tax in the sense of the Anti-Injunction Act? Does the Anti-Injunction Act only prevent private parties or also states from challenging ObamaCare? The New York Times has a highly recommended overview.

Tomorrow's Tuesday session will be on whether the Constitution grants the federal government the power to mandate health insurance, either through the Commerce Clause or through its ability to levy taxes.

Wednesday morning will see arguments on what should happen if the requirement to obtain health insurance is struck down. Must the whole law be shelved or can the balance remain?

Finally, Wednesday afternoon will be about whether Congress was permitted to expand the eligibility and coverage thresholds that states must follow if they are to remain eligible for Medicaid, a federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled.

It is an exciting week and we will make sure to keep you posted on the breaking news about this case.

(c) Picture: http://www.supremecourt.gov/

… or, as Wired puts it: Uncle Sam: If It Ends in .Com, It’s .Seizable. But, let's first back-up a bit....

What exactly are domain names? A domain name is an easy-to-remember mnemonic to the underlying Internet Protocol (IP) address, the true address of each website. The domain name bridgehouselaw.us, for example, points to the IP address 82.165.120.197. The latter is much more difficult to remember, of course. Hence the use and usefulness of mnemonic domain names.

When you enter a domain name such as bridgehouselaw.us, the name is “resolved” by computers called Domain Name Resolvers, which are part of the Domain Name System (DNS), a type of switchboard or address book for the internet. The DNS tells the querying computer which IP address the domain name bridgehouselaw.us is currently pointing to.

Whoever controls the DNS controls a very valuable piece of real estate. The DNS gives you the power to redirect domain name queries to any IP address.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), established by the Clinton administration in 1998 and subject to loose oversight by the U.S. Department of Commerce, manages the DNS. It does so by enlisting the help of other organizations to manage the authoritative registries of different Top-level Domains (TLDs).

TLDs are the various endings domain names have. The most common is .com. Others that are of interest of here are .net, .cc, .tv and .name. These TLDs are all managed by the Reston, Virginia, based company Verisign, Inc.

TLDs are called top-level domains because they are at the top of the hierarchical structure of the internet address system. It is more or less like resolving a physical mailing address. Here is an example: if you were in Germany and were given a letter for BridgehouseLaw Charlotte, 212 South Tryon Street, Suite 325, Charlotte, NC 28281, USA, you would resolve the address by going from the general to the specific. You would first check the country the addressee is in, then the region in the country, the city, the street, the house and suite number and finally the name of the individual to whom the letter was addressed.

Because Verisign operates the so-called authoritative registry for the above-mentioned TLDs, it can change the IP address underlying any domain name that uses one of the TLDs under its control. And that is how U.S. authorities can -and do- seize any .com address.

While you and I can register a .com domain with a domain name registrar that might be located anywhere in the world, the domain name registrar must pass on the information to Verisign and ask for the new domain name to be listed in its authoritative registry for .com domain names. Remember, the registry needs to be updated because there needs to be one authoritative source telling everybody what IP address a domain name is pointing to.

Verisign is a U.S. company. As such, it is required to comply with U.S. court orders. If a U.S. court finds a foreign-based website to be distributing material illegal under U.S. law, such as pirated blockbusters, it can issue a court order to seize the domain.

That is what happened to bodog.com, a sports-betting website that had registered its domain with a company in Canada. bodog.com now points to a site telling you that the domain name has been seized by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations, Office of the Special Agent in Charge, Baltimore, MD, in accordance with a warrant obtained by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Consequently, if a foreign website is deemed illegal in the U.S., the domain can be seized even if the website's activity is legal in its home country. The problem with a seizure effected by redirecting the domain name to a different IP address, as in the case of bodog.com, is that the website becomes unavailable for users worldwide and not just in the U.S., where it was found to be illegal.

EasyDNS, a domain name registrar and hosting service, writes “the ramifications of this are no less than chilling and every single organization branded or operating under .com, .net, .org, .biz etc needs to ask themselves about their vulnerability to the whims of US federal and state lawmakers.”

As a result, there are demands worldwide for the DNS to be placed under the auspices of an international organization such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a specialized agency of the United Nations. The Geneva-based ITU allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits and promotes the development of technical standards in the information and communication technologies.

In 2005, a U.N. working group concluded that "no single Government should have a pre-eminent role in relation to international internet governance."

But, as Tim Wu, a Columbia University law professor, said in 2005, "as long as the root [the master-file of permitted TLDs] is controlled by the United States, there's this psychological feeling that the United States owns the internet."

Current developments seem to have proven Professor Wu's point.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

You plan on hiring a new employee? Great! Here is something you should keep in mind and do:

According to a 1996 federal law called the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act"(PRWORA), employers in all 50 US-states are required to report all their new hires and re-hires to a state directory. Generally, the following information is required:

Employer Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN);
Employer Name;
Employer Address;
Employee Social Security Number;
Employee Name;
Employee Address; and
Employee Date of Hire

In some states, further information such as the employee's date of birth is also required. Four states, Georgia, Iowa, Maryland, and Mississippi, now also require information on the availability of health insurance. North Carolina does not require employers to report on issues of health insurance.

State-by-State reporting requirements can be found at the U.S. Small Business Administration website.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

We previously reported on our Blog about the Utah immigration law known as House Bill 497. The law allows police to check the citizenship status of anyone they arrest.

U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups, who is presiding over the hearing as to the law's constitutionality, postponed his decision. He wrote in his two page order on February 21, 2012:

“[s]hortly, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on another immigration-related law from Arizona. Although Arizona’s law is different from Utah’s law in several respects, some aspects are sufficiently similar that the Supreme Court’s ruling likely will inform this court in its decision. Because this case addresses significant constitutional issues, the court does not believe it would be helpful to the parties for the court to rule on the present motions before it receives the additional guidance from the Supreme Court. It therefore will reserve ruling until the Supreme Court has issued its decision.”

We will inform you about further developments on this issue. In the meantime, please check out the latest developments in the Arizona immigration law debate.

(c) Picture: www.50states.com

Last May, we reported on our Blog about Georgia's immigration law House Bill 87. The state now seems to want to take things a step further with Senate Bill 458 ("SB 458").

State Senator Barry Loudermilk (R-Cassville), the sponsor of SB 458, is saying that college spots are being taken away from Americans and legal immigrants by illegal/undocumented immigrants – people who, on any account, would not be allowed to work legally in the U.S. after graduation. The bill would prohibit public institutions of higher education from enrolling undocumented persons.

Currently, there are 318,000 students enrolled in the University System of Georgia. About 300 of those students are undocumented; that is 0.094% of all students enrolled. Last year, the number was a staggering 500.

Hank Huckaby, the chancellor of the University System, argues that the current situation does not need to be changed and points out that undocumented students are charged out-of-state tuition, which is three-times higher than in-state tuition. In-state tuition is supported by tax dollars.

In contrast, Senator Loudermilk believes that attending a public university is a privilege only to be granted to citizens and legal immigrants. He also thinks that the current University System is in violation of federal law.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say federal law does not forbid undocumented immigrants from attending public universities, but that States can decide for themselves on the matter.

A proposal by President Obama might change that. "Many were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation," Obama recently said. "Others came more recently, to study business and science and engineering, but as soon as they get their degree, we send them home to invent new products and create new jobs somewhere else.”

Noting that "[t]hat doesn’t make sense," President Obama is championing a route to permanent residency and citizenship for illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors and “earned” their right to stay, e.g. through military service and higher education. Opponents of the bill believe that it encourages and rewards undocumented immigration.

(c) Picture: 50states.com

Yahoo has been around since 1994 and was once one of the most dominant internet companies. Lately, it's star has been sinking, while those of firms such as Google and Facebook are rising quickly. It's a common scene in the IT industry.

But Yahoo still has a couple of cards up its sleeve, notably its patent portfolio. We've been seeing a bunch of patent spats between tech giants lately, be it Samsung vs Apple or everybody against Google and other Android manufacturers. The latest is a patent infringement claim by Yahoo against Facebook.

Yahoo claims that Facebook is infringing on 10 to 20 of its patents and is threatening to sue Facebook if a licensing agreement isn't reached. For Facebook, the threat couldn't come at a worse time, seeing how the company is preparing for its much-anticipated IPO.

The move by Yahoo is all the more surprising following the friendly relations the companies had been pursuing. While it may provide a windfall for Yahoo's investors, in the long-run Yahoo needs to innovate.

In Silicon Valley, you either innovate or die. Patent trolling is not the solution....

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

The Charlotte Business Journal reports that while significant offshore wind projects along the Atlantic are still years away, the Carolinas in particular have been building a strong supply chain for the land-based wind power industry over the past years. This supply chain should give them a heads-up when offshore wind takes off.

Wind industry companies with a presence in North Carolina include Nucor Corp., PPG Industries Inc., Duke Energy Renewables, and the ABB Group. The China Ming Yang Power Group, a leading wind turbine manufacturer in China that is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, just opened an R&D center for offshore wind turbines on the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Locating their R&D center in North Carolina was a natural choice.

According to information provided by the North Carolina Offshore Wind Coalition, North Carolina has the largest offshore wind resource amongst all East Coast states with an impressive 140 GW. South Carolina comes second with 96 GW of offshore wind resource. North Carolina also

“[i]s estimated to be the least expensive state in the nation for new offshore wind, driven largely by the state's highly competitive and flexible labor markets.”

“[h]as one of the largest electricity markets on the East Coast, using 91% as much electricity as the state of New York.”
“[h]as ideal port facilities with deep draft, area for expansion, no overhead or lateral restrictions, and about 3 miles to open ocean.”

Jim Lanard, president of the Washington-based Offshore Wind Development Coalition, noted at the Southeastern Coastal Wind Conference in Charlotte last week that the regional effort by Southeastern states is a smart move and a lot more efficient than having individual states compete amongst themselves. North Carolina Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco agreed and suggested that the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia pool resources and share revenue.

Let's hope these excellent plans don't turn out to be nothing but hot air.

(c) Picture: Wikipedia

Kola ist nicht gesund, das ist allseits bekannt. Das Kola jedoch so ungesund ist, war bislang nicht bekannt...

Ein Zusatz in Kola-Getränken, Zuckercouleur (E 150 a – d), kann nach Art der Herstellung Anteile von 4-Methylimidazol enthalten, ein unerwünschtes Nebenprodukt, das in Verdacht steht, krebserregend zu sein. E 150 d wird in Deutschland beispielsweise für die dunkle Farbe von Coca-Cola verwendet.

Der amerikanische Bundesstaat Kalifornien hat 4-Methylimidazol in eine Liste krebserregender Stoffe aufgenommen. Daraufhin haben Pepsi und Coca-Cola ihre Rezepte für die gesamte USA angepasst. Denn wäre der Stoff in einer bestimmten Menge in ihren Getränken nachzuweisen, hätten diese den Warnhinweis „krebserregend“ tragen müssen.

In Deutschland werden die Rezepte nicht angepasst. In Deutschland, wie auch auf Bundesebene in den USA, wird der Stoff, der bei der Bräunung von Zuckern und Eiweißen (die sog. Maillard-Reaktion) entsteht und daher auch in anderen Lebensmitteln nachzuweisen ist, als unbedenklich eingestuft. Erst beim Konsumieren von 1000 Cola-Dosen am Tag würde ein Mensch die Dosis an 4-Methylimidazol aufnehmen, die bei Versuchen an Nagetieren Krebs auslöst.

Also, wie so oft im Leben: genießen in Maßen.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

The Managing Partner of the BridgehouseLaw Charlotte office Reinhard von Hennigs, will be presenting on employment-based immigration and visas & green cards for foreign investors on March 22, 2012, at the International Trade and Business Symposium in Charlotte, NC.

The symposium will address business development topics for foreign businesses coming to the USA and for American companies wanting to expand or do business abroad. This event is being organized by the Russian-American Business Council of NC & the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of Carolinas in conjunction with the German Language & Culture Foundation and the Federal Republic of Germany.

The 3 target countries are Germany, Sweden and the Russian Federation. You will hear from industry experts, both private & public sector, in business development, legal, logistics, taxation & accounting, real estate and insurance address the issues that companies and individuals need to know if they want to succeed globally.

For more information and registration, please click here.

(c) Picture: freeditigalphotos.net

The Economist has an excellent piece on over-regulation in America. Traditionally, the United States has been marked by its adherence to laissez-faire, the principle in which the state does not meddle in transactions between private parties. As of late, however, the United States seems to be taking the opposite path. Indeed,

“[a] Florida law requires vending-machine labels to urge the public to file a report if the label is not there. The Federal Railroad Administration insists that all trains must be painted with an 'F' at the front, so you can tell which end is which. Bureaucratic busybodies in Bethesda, Maryland, have shut down children’s lemonade stands because the enterprising young moppets did not have trading licences,”

as the Economist quips.

Unfortunately, over-regulation does not limit itself to such laughable issues. The Dodd-Frank law of 2010, designed to prevent another financial crisis by putting an end to “too big to fail,” to abusive financial practices and to excessive risk-taking, has been suffocated by its complexity – complexity that is still increasing. The Economist notes that,

“[a]t 848 pages, it is 23 times longer than Glass-Steagall, the reform that followed the Wall Street crash of 1929. Worse, every other page demands that regulators fill in further detail. Some of these clarifications are hundreds of pages long. Just one bit, the 'Volcker rule', which aims to curb risky proprietary trading by banks, includes 383 questions that break down into 1,420 subquestions.”

Likewise, “ObamaCare” hasn't succeeded in reducing the amount of paperwork health providers must wade through: per hour of patient treatment at least 30 minutes of paperwork and often enough a whole hour. Do we really need “nine codes relating to injuries caused by parrots, and three relating to burns from flaming water-skis?”

The author suggests a number of remedies to over-regulation. Sunset clauses, less hubris in the belief that all eventualities can be regulated, less lobbying. It remains to hope that some legislators take note. After all,

“[C]omplexity costs money. [...] A study for the Small Business Administration, a government body, found that regulations in general add $10,585 in costs per employee. It’s a wonder the jobless rate isn’t even higher than it is.”

(c) Picture: flickr

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) hat im Dezember 2011 das webbasierte Validation Instrument for Business Enterprises (VIBE) aktualisiert. Im Rahmen von VIBE greift USCIS auf die Datenbank eines kommerziellen Anbieters zurück, um Informationen über Unternehmen, die Arbeitnehmer für Visen sponsern, zu verifizieren. Dieser Anbieter ist gegenwärtig Dun & Bradstreet (D&B).

Obgleich USCIS explizit erklärt, dass eine Anmeldung bei D&B nicht erforderlich sei, ist es unsere Erfahrung, dass eine Anmeldung oft zu weniger Rückfragen von USCIS führt und dadurch die Visumsbearbeitung beschleunigen kann.

Falls Sie sich für eine Anmeldung bei D&B entscheiden, hier ein paar wichtige Infos vorab:

Die Anmeldung ist kostenlos. Gegebenenfalls werden kostenpflichtige Produkte oder Dienstleistungen angeboten, diese müssen jedoch im Rahmen des VIBE-Programms nicht bezogen werden.
Bei Anmeldung erhält Ihr Unternehmen eine sog. DUNS Identifikationsnummer. Diese Nummer erhalten Sie in der Regel innerhalb 30 Tagen.
Updates zu schon eingetragenen Informationen werden in der Regel innerhalb 2 bis 7 Werktagen nach Verifikation eingepflegt.
Wenn Sie für die Anmeldung die Seite http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform verwenden, werden Sie von D&B keine Marketingschreiben bekommen, bei einer Anmeldung über die Haupseite http://www.dnb.com, unter Umständen schon.
Bei der Anmeldung ist die private Anschrift einer Kontaktperson bei dem anzumeldenden Unternehmen anzugeben. Über diese Anschrift wird verifiziert, dass man berechtigt ist, eine DUNS Nummer für das Unternehmen zu beantragen. Diese Person kann zudem Informationen über das Unternehmen bearbeiten. Kann diese Person anhand öffentlicher Datenbanken von D&B nicht verifiziert werden, z.B. weil die Kontaktperson erst kürzlich in die USA eingereist ist, kann eine Anmeldung vorerst nicht über das Webformular stattfinden, sondern muss auf einem von D&B zur Verfügung gestellten Formular erfolgen.

Für Rückfragen bzgl. der Anmeldung bei D&B oder andere Immigration Law Fragen, kontaktieren Sie gerne unser Charlotte Büro.

Maiden, North Carolina, is home to Apple's largest and most recent data center, which in turn is at the heart of the company's latest push into cloud storage and cloud computing through its iCloud service.

The North Carolina data center will also showcase “the nation's largest end-user-owned, onsite solar array,” as the company's' 2012 environmental update report boasts. When completed, the 100-acre, 20-megawatt facility will produce 42 million kWh annually.

That's not it, though. Apple is also building a fuel cell installation that is planned to go online sometime this year. It will be the largest non-utility fuel cell installation operating in the United States. The 5-megawatt facility is located directly adjacent to the data center and will be powered by 100 percent biogas. It will provide more than 40 million kWh of around-the-clock baseload renewable energy annually.

The data center already is exceptionally energy efficient and has earned the LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The environmental report states some of the energy-efficient elements of the facility to be:

“A chilled water storage system to improve chiller efficiency by transferring 10,400 kWh of electricity consumption from peak to off-peak hours each day.
Use of “free” outside air cooling through a waterside economizer operation during night and cool-weather hours, which, along with water storage, allows the chillers to be turned off more than 75 percent of the time.
Extreme precision in managing cooling distribution for cold-air containment pods, with variable-speed fans controlled to exactly match air flow to server requirements from moment to moment.
Power distributed at higher voltages, which increases efficiency by reducing power loss.
White cool-roof design to provide maximum solar reflectivity. ñ High-efficiency LED lighting combined with motion sensors.
Real-time power monitoring and analytics during operations.
Construction processes that utilized 14 percent recycled materials, diverted 93 percent of construction waste from landfills, and sourced 41 percent of purchased materials within 500 miles of the site.”

Apple is not alone in establishing energy-hungry data centers in North Carolina's foothills. Google and Facebook are neighbors. The reason is that the area was once home to the state's textile and furniture industry and thus already wired for heavy industry. Also, electricity in North Carolina is very cheap, particularly for industrial customers. A further incentive is that state and local authorities gave Apple an attractive ten-year tax deal.

It is not clear how much energy the Maiden data center will use, but it's unlikely that its renewable energy sources will suffice. A large percentage of its energy will be produced by Duke Energy's nearby coal powered plants. In 2011, Greenpeace ranked Apple's data center energy as the dirtiest among 10 technology companies.

Nevertheless, the greening of Apple is certainly welcome. It's good for the state economy, it's good for the environment.

Congratulations are due! Volkswagen Chattanooga completed its 50,000th car this month, a fully loaded white 2.5 liter, 170 horsepower Passat SE. This milestone was achieved less than a year after the plant's official opening on May 24, 2011.

"An incredible amount of care goes into each vehicle we produce in Chattanooga," said Frank Fischer, CEO and Chair of Volkswagen Chattanooga. "Producing 50,000 cars at this level of quality is a huge accomplishment for our team."

The 50,000 cars manufactured include pre-series cars, technical training cars, dealer experience cars, export cars to Mexico and Canada and customer cars for the US.

The Chattanooga, TN, plant employs around 2,500 people, 2000 directly by Volkswagen and 500 by Aerotek, a staffing partner. Volkswagen recently announced the hiring of another 200 full-time workers.

To read the full story, please click here.

(c) Picture: Volkswagen of America

USCIS will start accepting petitions for H-1B visas on Monday, April 2, 2012, with employment commencing October 1, 2012, at the earliest. This date marks the beginning of fiscal year 2013.

U.S. businesses use the H-1B program to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialized fields, such as scientists, engineers, or computer programmers. The beneficiary of the visa must have at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent and the degree must be related to the job being offered.

H-1B visas are subject to a yearly cap of currently 65,000, subject to some exemptions, such as for beneficiaries who obtained a U.S. master's degree or higher. The resetting of the cap marks the beginning of the new filing season.

In 2011, the cap was reached on November 22. Any cap-subject petitions that arrived after this date were rejected. In 2009 and previous years, however, the cap was reached within the first few days of the filing season. Petitions were subjected to a random lottery.

It is difficult to guess when the cap will be reached. Generally speaking, the better the economy, the quicker the cap is reached. With the economy slowly gaining momentum, it is best to submit H-1B visa petitions as early as possible to be on the safe side.

Please click here for more USCIS information on the H-1B Fiscal Year 2012 cap season.

Should you have any Immigration Law related questions or concerns, please visit our website.

(c) Picture: USCIS

To follow up on our previous blog post: Facebook cannot only get you in trouble in Germany these days, but also in the United States...

A Florida juror, who claims he mistakenly sent a friend request to the defendant in an automobile negligence case, was dismissed when the defendant showed the request to her lawyer, who then took the matter to the judge.

Following his dismissal from the case, the juror decided to post the following message to his Facebook account: "Score ... I got dismissed!! apparently they frown upon sending a friend request to the defendant ... haha.”

The presiding judge was not amused. After a two hour hearing, she said: "I cannot think of a more insidious threat to the erosion of democracy than citizens who do not care." The judge ultimately found the former juror guilty of criminal contempt of court.

Befriender beware....

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

Was in den USA schon gang und gäbe ist, könnte nun auch in Deutschland Eingang finden. Ein Richter in Reutlingen hat den Facebook-Account eines 20-Jährigen beschlagnahmt, weil dieser über Facebook den entscheidenden Hinweis für einen Einbruch gegeben haben soll. Durch die Beschlagnahmung des Accounts des Angeklagten, der unter dem Pseudonym „El Capone“ agiert, soll versucht werden, dies zu beweisen.

Bisher griffen Strafverfolgungsbehörden nur auf die öffentlichen Facebook-Pinnwände von Beschuldigten zu. Private, zwischen einzelnen Mitgliedern verschickte Nachrichten waren dem Zugriff entzogen.

Bei den über soziale Netzwerke versandten Direktnachrichten drängen sich jedoch Parallelen zu Emails auf. Und Emails werden auch in Deutschland beschlagnahmt.

Liegt ein richterlicher Beschluss vor, händigen deutsche Betreiber von Emaildiensten die gewünschten Emails an den Ermittlungsbehörden aus. Der Reutlinger Amtsrichter kontaktierte Facebook Deutschland in Hamburg, wurde aber auf die Kollegen in Irland mit dem Hinweis verwiesen, nur diese hätten Zugriff auf die gewünschten Daten.

Ein Rechtshilfeersuchen nach Irland ist schon ergangen. Dieser Weg kostet aber Zeit und Geld. Womöglich wird der Angeklagte die gewünschten Informationen daher freiwillig herausgeben. Das zumindest hofft der Richter, der einen entsprechenden Hinweis an den Angeklagten gegeben hat. Für die Fortentwicklung des Rechts wäre das nicht zu wünschen.

Es ist wahrscheinlich nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis der nächste Fall dieser Art kommt. Insbesondere die jüngere Generation zieht die Nachrichtenfunktion von Facebook herkömmlichen Emails vor.

Es bleibt spannend. Selbstverständlich werden wir Sie über die weiteren Entwicklungen auf dem Laufenden halten.

(c) Picture: facebook

Caterpillar Inc. said it chose a site near Athens, Georgia, for a new $200 million factory that will employ about 1,400 people and make construction equipment currently produced in Sagami, Japan.

The selection came after the Peoria, Illinois, maker of heavy equipment reviewed proposals from "more than 100 communities in three dozen states plus Canada and Mexico," a spokesman said on Friday.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal hailed the plant as "a game changer" for the Athens area in northeast Georgia.

To read the full article, please click here.

(c) Picture: Caterpillar

Arizona, once a trailblazer in cracking down on illegal immigration, is rethinking its ways.

While a number of states jumped on the Arizona bandwagon and copied the state's illegal immigration laws in an effort to reduce their unemployment rate and rev up the local economy, it's becoming clear that the laws' unintended consequences, in particular to the economy, have been severe. Studies show that jobs are being lost, GDP is shrinking, and tax revenue is declining.

To stop the downward spiral, public and private leaders in Arizona introduced what is called the “Arizona Accord” last month, which seeks to recognize the contributions immigrants have made and strike a more conciliatory tone towards both the federal government, which took the states to court over the laws, and immigrants themselves.

Indeed, the architect of the original 2010 Arizona immigration law, Republican state Senator Russell Pearce, was ousted from office last November. His electorate preferred Jerry Lewis, a Senate candidate who promised less confrontational immigration policies.

The last Arizona legislative session also saw five illegal immigration proposals defeated. The current session has broadly supported bills circulating that would soften existing illegal immigration laws. Still, there are also two bills that call for stricter measures. Their sponsor, Republican state Senator Steve Smith explains, “I don't have to listen to the business community and CEOs.”

That may be true. In the end, though, it is often enough the economy that makes the ultimate decision.

(c) Picture: Arizona Secretary of State

Dass Charlotte, North Carolina, nach New York City die Finanz- und Bankenmetropole der USA ist, ist mittlerweile hinreichend bekannt. Während New York aber noch von Wall Street beherrscht wird, entsinnt sich Charlotte jedoch ihrer Wurzeln und wendet sich zunehmend auch der Industrie zu.

"Der Zusammenbruch des Finanzsystems hat uns vor Augen geführt, dass wir unsere Abhängigkeit von den Banken reduzieren müssen", so Bob Morgen, Chef der örtlichen Handelskammer.

Mit einer Kombination von Anreizen für Industrieunternehmen, einem hervorragendem Talentpool und einer guten Infrastruktur kristallisiert sich Charlotte immer mehr als eine der attraktivsten Städte im Süden der USA heraus. Der jüngste Erfolg ist die Ansiedlung einer neuen Siemens-Fertigungsstätte für 60-Hertz-Gasturbinen.

Charlotte kümmert sich aber auch um die Familien der herziehenden Fachkräfte. Die Waddell Language Academy bietet vom Kindergarten bis zur Mittelschule Unterricht in vier verschiedenen Sprachen an. Das Programm ist einzigartig in den USA, aber ein voller Erfolg. Die rund 1300 Schüler weisen einen weit höheren Notendurchschnitt als der nationale Durchschnitt vor. Und am Wochenende lockt mit dem ImaginOn eine preisgekrönte und innovative Bibliothek für Kinder.

Klicken Sie bitte hier für den ursprünglichen Hörbeitrag beim ORF.

Wir haben Ihr Interesse an Charlotte geweckt und Ihre Firma bzw. Familie will von Deutschland nach Charlotte, NC umsiedeln? Kein Problem, unser deutsch-amerikanisches Anwaltsteam bei BridgehouseLaw Charlotte hilft Ihnen gern! Besuchen Sie einfach unsere Webseite oder rufen Sie uns an (+1 704.333.5230).

(c) Picture: CNNMoney

Die USA verklagen die Schweizer Privatbank Wegelin & Co., die 1741 gegründet wurde und damit älter als die USA ist. In der Klageschrift wird der Bank vorgeworfen, dass sie geholfen hat, über $1,2 Milliarden USD von wohlhabenden US-Staatsbürgern vor dem amerikanischen Fiskus versteckt zu haben. Es ist das erste Mal, dass die USA deswegen eine Bank und keine Einzelperson verklagt.

Zudem haben amerikanische Behörden über $16 Millionen USD von einem Wegelin-Konto bei der Schweizer UBS AG beschlagnahmt; Wegelin & Co. hat keine eigenen Filialen außerhalb der Schweiz.

2009 hatte die UBS im Rahmen eines Vergleiches mit den USA zugegeben, US-Staatsangehörigen bei der Steuerhinterziehung geholfen zu haben. Um nicht strafrechtlich belangt zu werden, zahlte die UBS $780 Millionen USD und nannte die Namen von mehr als 4.000 ihrer Kunden in den USA.

Wir werden Sie selbstverständlich über den weiteren Verlauf des Verfahrens informieren.

(c) Picture: Bloomberg.com

BridgehouseLaw ist eine internationale, wirtschaftsrechtlich ausgerichtete Kanzlei mit Standorten in Atlanta, Charlotte, Köln und München. Wir beraten schwerpunktmäßig Mandanten bei internationalen Transaktionen, insbesondere im Handels- und Gesellschaftsrecht, Immobilien- und Bankrecht sowie im Investment- und Steuerrecht. Darüber hinaus begleiten unsere Anwälte Mandanten bei transnationalen Rechtsstreitigkeiten und beraten im Einwanderungs- und Staatsangehörigkeitsrecht.

Zur Mitarbeit und Ausbildung in der Anwalts- bzw. Wahlstation suchen wir engagierte und qualifizierte Rechtsreferendare sowie Studenten der Rechtswissenschaft, des Unternehmens- und Wirtschaftsrechts für eine Wahlstation oder ein Praktikum in den USA. Die Ausbildung erfolgt wahlweise in unserer Kanzlei in Atlanta (Georgia) oder Charlotte (North Carolina). Ziel ist es ausländischen Juristen praktische Erfahrung in Bezug auf eine Vielzahl US-amerikanischer Rechtsgebiete zu geben.

Sie haben Gelegenheit, mit allen Anwälten interessante Projekte zu bearbeiten, wobei wir versuchen, Ihren Neigungen und Qualifikationen zu entsprechen und Ihnen Projekte entsprechend zuzuteilen. Das BridgehouseLaw Internship Program zeichnet sich durch seine “hands-on experience“ aus, das heißt Sie haben die Möglichkeit ein Projekt aktiv mit zu betreuen.

Aussagekräftige Bewerbungen in englischer Sprache sind an Rechtsanwältin Judith Haensel in Charlotte bzw. Rechtsanwalt Sebastian Meis in Atlanta zu richten:

Judith S. Haensel, LL.M.
The Johnston Building, Suite 325
212 South Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28281
Email: judith.haensel@bridgehouselaw.us

Sebastian Meis, LL.M.
1170 Peachtree Street N.E.
Suite 325 Suite 1750 – The Proscenium
Atlanta, GA 30309
Email: sebastian.meis@bridgehouselaw.us

We previously reported on our blog about two British tourists who were detained and prevented from entering the U.S. on the Visa Waiver Program due to a couple of unfortunate tweets. Forbes now quoted a spokesperson from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol stating that the tweets were not the original basis of heightened interest in Mr. van Bryan and Ms. Banting, but apparently a concerned citizen:

“Based on information provided by the LAX Port Authority Infoline – a suspicious activity tipline – CBP conducted a secondary interview of two subjects presenting for entry into the United States,” and that “[i]nformation gathered during this interview revealed that both individuals were inadmissible to the United States and were returned to their country of residence.”

According to the form issued to Mr. van Bryan upon denial of entry, “Mr. Bryan confirmed that he had posted on his Tweeter [sic] website account that he was coming to the United States to dig up the grave of Marilyn Monroe. Also on his tweeter account Mr. Bryan posted that he was coming to destroy America.”

As things stand now, U.S. authorities might not have stumbled across the tweets themselves after all. But was their discovery the result of a concerned citizen taking action – or of a practical joke gone wrong?

(c) Picture: Twitter

Crops rotting in fields, long lines at courthouses to renew car tags, massive amounts of paperwork for companies doing business with the government, and the shrinking of GDP between $2.3 billion USD and $10.8 billion USD (1% to 6% of GDP, respectively).

Alabama has a problem, and that problem is House Bill 56.

State legislature passed the bill last year. It is considered to be one of the toughest immigration laws in the nation, requiring, inter alia, schools to record the immigration status of all students and proof of citizenship to renew a driver's license.

So, joining the ranks of those who oppose the law and would have it repealed or tweaked on humanitarian grounds are now those who feel its economic and bureaucratic pinch is too strong. NPR has even called it “the law of unintended consequences."

A number of provisions have already been ruled unconstitutional, and several bills have been introduced to modify it. It remains to be seen what HB 56 develops into.

For more information on this topic, please click here.

(c) Picture: Alabama Department of Archives and History.

The Council for Educational Travel, USA, has been removed from the U.S. State Department's summer work program. The council, known as Cetusa, may no longer sponsor foreign students coming to the United States looking for summer jobs. The removal of the company follows a walkout by hundreds of foreign students from a Pennsylvania plant packing Hershey's chocolates last summer to protest low pay and dangerous work conditions. The students had been placed there by Cetusa.

A review of the entire program had already been ordered in 2010 by Hillary Rodham Clinton, but the students' strike accelerated the audit of whether companies were abusing the program by “putting the labor aspect in the primary position, when it should be the cultural aspect,” said Rick Ruth, acting deputy assistant secretary of state. He also said that the Department would be issuing new regulations during the next couple of months aimed at banning a number of the statistically most hazardous jobs.

To read the full story, please click here.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

“Free this week, for quick gossip/prep before I go and destroy America?” is what Leigh van Bryan, 26, tweeted to friends about his upcoming trip to Hollywood, California. While “destroy” means “party” in British slang, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security flagged him as a potential threat, ultimately leading to his arrest after a five hour interrogation and spending 12 hours in a cell with Mexican drug dealers before being placed on a plane back home.

Because he had also tweeted “3 weeks today, we're totally in LA p****** people off on Hollywood Blvd. and diggin' Marilyn Monroe up!”, a quote from the popular US animated comedy series “Family Guy”, U.S. authorities also decided to search his suitcase for digging tools.
His friend Emily Banting suffered the same treatment. She was supposed to act as Leigh's lookout while he set to work on Marilyn Monroe's grave.

In the future, both Leigh and Emily will have to apply for visas if they want to visit the US, as they are no longer eligible for the visa waiver program.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been criticized for scanning social networks such as Twitter and Facebook for certain terms such as “drill”, “strain”, “illegal immigrant”, “virus”, “strain,” and “collapse.”

To read the full story, please click here.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

Fifty people have been accused of conspiring to sell the identities of hundreds of Puerto Ricans to illegal immigrants on the American mainland in the largest single fraud case ever for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the authorities said Wednesday. Hundreds of birth certificates, Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses were sold for up to $2,500 a set as part of a black market based in Puerto Rico that had operated since at least 2009, according to John Morton, the agency director.

To read the full story, please click here.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

Frederic Deloizy, a French national, and Mark Himes, a Harrisburg, PA native, are a happily married couple with four young children. The couple met in 1990 in Pennsylvania and wed in California in 2008. Their happiness could soon be over, however.

Deloizy spent the past two decades in and out of the United States leapfrogging from one visa to another, in hopes of creating a life together with Himes. His final visa expired in September. Deloizy now faces deportation because immigration officials are barred from recognizing their marriage under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

DOMA was passed in 1996 by the GOP-controlled Congress and signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton. It bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and says states cannot be forced to recognize such marriages from other states.

In February, President Barack Obama ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act. Despite the order, the administration will continue to enforce the law.

Himes filed a spousal green card petition so he and Deloizy can continue living stateside in Harrisburg with their four children. On Wednesday, the couple will appear before an immigration officer at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' district offices in Philadelphia to defend their relationship and marriage, the usual process for opposite-sex married couples where one spouse is foreign-born and not a U.S. citizen.

To read the full story, please click here.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

As previously reported on our blog, a ban on U.S. courts considering Sharia, or Islamic, law in any proceedings passed overwhelmingly in Oklahoma on November 2, 2010. One day later, on November 3, 2010, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced that it plans to file a lawsuit against Oklahoma for passing the "Shariah law amendment." CAIR followed through with its plan and was successful.

On Tuesday, January 10, 2012, the 10th Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals blocked implementation of the amendment. The Court said the state had not demonstrated any compelling reason for discrimination against one religion.

To read the full story, please click here.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphoto.net

Eigentlich wollte er nur ein lustiges Bild auf seinem Blog einstellen. Dieser Spass kam dem Blogger Carsten Herkenhoff nun teuer zu stehen. Für das Weiterreichen eines Fotos des Fotografen Heinrich von Schimmer hat der Blogger 250 Euro an den Fotografen bezahlt, um einer Abmahnung zu entgehen.

Den ganzen Artikel finden Sie hier.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

At the beginning of last year we reported on our blog about the amnesty program of the Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S.) for offshore accounts. Yesterday, the I.R.S. announced that it would revive its so-called voluntary disclosure program for offshore accounts. The I.R.S. collected $4.4 billion in two previous programs

The program’s revival is part of the government’s efforts to track down and prevent tax evasion around the world. Program participants will pay as much as 27.5 percent of their most valuable offshore assets or their biggest overseas bank account. They also must disclose the banks and advisers that helped them escape United Sates tax laws.

According to I.R.S. commissioner, Douglas H. Shulman, 33,000 disclosures were made in the two previous versions of the voluntary program. An effort that began in 2009 resulted in $3.4 billion in collections. The second program in 2011 yielded about $1 billion for the I.R.S., and Mr. Shulman said he expected that amount to rise.

Unlike in the previous programs, the I.R.S. this time is not specifying a deadline for disclosing assets. It said the program would remain open “for an indefinite period.”

To read the full article, please click here.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net

Gnadenlos und finstere Miene, so kennt man die U.S. Grenzbeamten. Eine andere Art von Grenzbeamten hat nun jedoch der 33-jährige Kanadier Martin Reisch kennengelernt. Dem jungen Mann gelang es ohne Reisepass in die USA einzureisen.

Erst an der Grenze bemerkte der aus Montreal stammende Mann, dass er seinen Reisepass zu Hause vergessen hatte. Statt umzudrehen und eine zweistündige Heimreise nach Montreal anzutreten, versuchte er sein Glück mit einem eingescannten Foto des Ausweises, das sich auf seinem iPad befand, in Kombination mit dem real vorliegenden Führerschein. Und siehe da, der genervte Grenzbeamte gestattete schliesslich die Einreise des Kanadiers in die USA.

Ob solche Fälle die Ausnahme bleiben, oder zur Regel werden, bleibt abzuwarten.

(c) Picture: freedigitalphotos.net
Quelle: SpiegelOnline

Zu Beginn des Jahres hatten wir auf unserem Blog über den Plan der Deutschen Telekom, seine Mobilfunktochter T-Mobile USA für 39 Milliarden Dollar an den Marktführer AT&T zu verkaufen, berichtet. Der Deal stieß jedoch bei den US-Kartellbehörden auf Widerstand. Das US-Justizministerium klagte wegen einer Verletzung von Wettbewerbsregeln vor Gericht, die Telekommunikationsbehörde FCC äußerte ebenfalls massive Kritik.

Nach einem Bericht des "Wall Street Journal" erwägen die beiden Unternehmen nun statt einem Verkauf von T-Mobile USA an den amerikanischen Konzern AT&T, ein Gemeinschaftsunternehmen (sog. Joint Venture) zu gründen.

Für beide Unternehmen geht es um viel: Die Telekom könnte mit dem Verkauf der US-Tochter ein Sorgenkind loswerden. AT&T hingegen würde dringend benötigte neue Frequenzen bekommen und zur klaren Nummer eins vor Verizon werden.

Den ganzen Artikel finden Sie hier.

(c) Picture: T-Mobile

Insights from BridgehouseLaw

Chicken McNugget für $8100 versteigert

German Administrative Court Decides: Skin Color Valid Factor for Spot ID Checks

Reminder: H-1B Filing Season Starts MONDAY

Neu in North Carolina: Wie bekomme ich einen Führerschein?

Wie bekomme ich eine Social Security Number mit einem Non-Immigrant Visum?

U.S. Supreme Court October 2011 Term – A Brief Overview

Supreme Court Hearings on ObamaCare Start Today

.com Domain Names Worldwide Seizable by U.S. Authorities

New Hire and Re-hire Reporting – A Reminder

Decision on Utah's Immigration Law Postponed

Georgia Immigration Bill "SB 458" Targets Education

Yahoo Springs Threat of Lawsuit on Facebook

Carolinas and Neighboring States Poised to Profit from the Offshore Wind Industry

Kola-Getränke könnten krebserregend sein

International Trade and Business Symposium in Charlotte on March 22, 2012

Laissez-faire, where art thou?

USCIS vereinfacht Übermittlung von Informationen im sog. VIBE System

A Green Apple in North Carolina

Volkswagen Plant in Chattanooga Completes 50,000th Passat

Reminder: H-1B Filing Season Approaching

Facebook Friend Request Leads to Jail

Facebook-Account als Beweismittel beschlagnahmt

Caterpillar Strikes Deal to Build Georgia Plan

Arizona Rethinks Immigration Policy: it's the Economy, Stupid!

Charlotte im Wandel – Die Wiederbelebung der Industrie

USA verklagen älteste Schweizer Bank

BridgehouseLaw Internship Program

The Debate Continues: Tweets Get UK Tourists Arrested by U.S. Border Authorities

Alabama's Immigration Law – The “Law of Unintended Consequences”

Summer Work Program Set for Overhaul After Systematic Abuse of Foreign Students Discovered

Tweets Get UK Tourists Arrested by U.S. Border Authorities

Fifty Accused of Selling Identities to Illegal Immigrants

Gay Man Faces Deportation Despite Marriage to U.S. Citizen

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Blocking of Amendment Against Shariah Law

Bloggen kann teuer sein

I.R.S. Revives Voluntary Disclosure Program for Offshore Accounts

Von Kanada in die USA mit iPad statt Reisepass

Telekom und AT&T: Gemeinschaftsfirma statt Verkauf?

BridgehouseLaw LLP