USA Immigration crackdown
 

As mentioned in the latest AT tirade, the US Immigration authorities are investigating ALL CX employees who are based in the US. It is suspected that this action has been triggered by a concerned person who feels that certain US based jobs are being occupied by unauthorized individuals, to the detriment of US individuals trapped in HK and not able to obtain a base. CX has managed to antagonize the authorities (and citizens) in nearly every country they operate into, and now you can add the USA to that list. I guess doing things sensibly and lawfully in the first place was just too much trouble. I would also suggest that playing games with the bases will also now come back to bite. Reap/sow.

Oh, and as an aside; to anyone still delusional as to any aspect of a ‘career’ at CX improving, here is AT’s Slido response to a question about the cost of living in HK: “Other than the existing pay scale increments, which guarantee annual increases in base salary for our SOs and most crew, there are no plans to further increase the pay scale. Our remuneration is very competitive, and exceptionally so when viewed over the course of a career.”

She actually has the nerve to say your package is ‘very competitive’ and ‘exceptionally so’ ! Tell that to the wife. Don’t say you haven’t been told the truth of how little your concerns are valued, or that you will be able to be financially secure at CX. There are better employers and better careers to be had elsewhere. To stay at CX will assure misery, anger and frustration.

A little bird tells me that there is a serious ongoing investigation by the FAA regarding certain aspects of our operation. The US Feds do not take kindly to the safety of their citizens being compromised. I believe the DFO will be on the hot seat in very short order. I wouldn't be heading to the US anytime soon if I were her.

Having a chairman who surrendered their US citizenship probabily doesn’t help the PR

I imagine the ICE folks who raided the SFO office might be having a hard look at I9's AND the H1B applications CX sponsored for those flight deck "Managers" in their "specialty occupations." Misrepresenting an occupation on a Visa application to gain approval really doesn't meld with ensuring full compliance of all immigration regulations regardless of country now does it? I'd say it underscores just the opposite.

Safe to say there is a far bigger story here. Will be interesting to see it play out. I know many Americans stuck in HK while other nationalities occupy their base is a festering sore.

Plenty of room on the US base for all, Americans and Non. If pilots are stuck in HK (and they are, not just Americans but many nationalities), it is the fault of our feckless management. They have a clear win-win with ALL the bases, already set up and administered. Rather, they choose to subjugate pilots at significant (expat) expense to the bottom line.

As they say, you can’t fix stupid!

"Plenty of room on the US base for all, Americans and Non."

Sorry, but I musta missed the part about:

A Permanent Resident Card (also known as a Green Card),
An Employment Authorization Document (work permit), or
A proper employment-related visa which allows you to work for a particular employer.

I'm thinking CX mighta missed this part too.

Not the point... Mine is that it’s not Canadians or any others on the US base that are keeping others from it. The management has restricted base opportunities out of little more than animosity. There could be hundreds more pilots on the US bases. If management continues to cut off their nose to spite their face in every possible way, then they will fail and likely take the whole airline with them.

ICE and possibly the US courts will determine legality, but it is moot if our obtuse third floor bean-counters can’t do better at their jobs. They are truly awful at their functions. If we were anywhere close to as bad as pilots, there would be no passengers entrusting their safety with us.

JS, RH, AT, etc... Don’t confuse the past success of Cathay Pacific as having anything to do with you. This airline’s reputation was built by flight and cabin crew, engineers, and ground staff and support personnel, NOT you! YOU ARE, however, destroying it at a rapid rate.

Cxorcist is correct about the 'subjugate pilot' bit however.

Just curious - how does tax residency work for US domestic airlines?

I.e. if someone is on a LAX base for UA, but commutes from Nevada, do they pay California or Nevada state taxes? Or Illinois because UA is headquartered in Chicago?

State taxes are paid/not paid based on the pilots “listed” permanent residence. Base/domicile, or company headquarters, is irrelevant.

Cxorcist is also correct as to who is to blame for the inevitable downfall of this airline.

Under tax residency law in this case, the person would pay Nevada state taxes (i.e where he is domiciled) unless 50% or greater of his flight time occurs in CA.(yes I know NV has no personal state income tax).

For employment law the rules generally follow where the person is based (i.e. CA).

Even in spite of the weather and ocean, you would have to be bonkers to live in Mexifornia.

Who would be subject to criminal prosecution for making false statements during the application process, the company, the pilot, or both?

Interesting to read the above. For what its worth CX never sponsored any Canadian with a H1B visa, try L1A. ICE was in SFO last week and inspected 77 companies. CX was not the only company inspected.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...a-12544863.php

I find it very interesting that most posters think that anything illegal was done or false statements were given. I am sure the lawyers who were involved in the whole process would disagree.

Anyways we will know within a couple of weeks what ICE has to say.

In regards of US bases, I do not think there will be any available until the California court case has been resolved, which can take another 3-4 years if the plaintiffs and company don't settle outside court. If the court case goes class action I am afraid there might be no US Basings in the future.

Yes, you are correct about the 77 companies. And all 77 were targeted due to 'investigative' findings that then placed CX as one of the 77. They weren't just random picks. Also, could you provide the reason for the lawsuits against the company in the US? I am not aware of these. Thanks.

GTC58

H1 or L1, pawning pilots off as managers sure seems like a very interesting manipulation. Maybe ICE won’t dig that deep and check since the CX SFO office raid was likely just a casual social call they got caught up in out of sheer happenstance with other straight up companies.

I agree it is up to ICE et al. and there may very well be nothing false or illegal surrounding any of this, serious questions aside.

ColonelAngus

Don’t know, good question. I’d imagine they might have an answer at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE

I guess the Canadians without a green card/citizenship/Work visa are going to have a tough pill to swallow when they figure out that the US and Canada are two very distinct countries. The US actually has immigration laws, and finally is now enforcing those laws to the benefit of US citizens and the treasury. The Canadians have fooled themselves and misled the ICE officers for a long time now...... you can’t enter the country to start work, when you tell them that you are entering the USA for leisure!