Today’s global companies typically employ thousands of essential noncitizen workers. Unsurprisingly as a result, procurement officers, in-house counsel, and human resource professionals in these multinational enterprises routinely suffer throbbing headaches. The multitudinous personnel under their charge must travel to far-flung foreign lands, at times with little advance notice, often with families in tow. If corporate objectives are to be fulfilled, these travelers need business-visitor and work visas, work permits and permanent residency—by yesterday, if not sooner.

Keeping up with the ever-changing immigration laws of the many countries where the company operates is migraine-inducing enough. More head-pounding still is trying to procure these high-volume immigration benefits as and when the business demands them, while making sure that the employee experience is positive and reassuring.

Predictably, these corporate officials issue Requests for Proposal (RFPs) to vetted shortlists of immigration lawyers and firms who respond with detailed answers highlighting their self-proclaimed traits and talents. Next, a lucky few are invited to parade their wares at in-person or virtual pitch meetings.

Likewise predictable are the topics covered in the RFPs. Immigration lawyers and firms are asked to describe their experience and qualifications, range of services offered, technology and staffing support, communications and billing protocols, escalation procedures, project-based legal fees, and willingness to commit to service level agreements.

Increasingly, however, the questions asked in immigration RFPs prove inadequate to the task of fleshing out meaningful differentiators among immigration service providers. Here then are five additional clusters of RFP questions to pose.

If we choose your firm:

1. What human experience do you offer?

2. How nimble is your technology?

3. In what ways will you do more than regurgitate government announcements?

4. How will you be a leader rather than a follower?

5. Can you think, talk and act both globally and locally? 

To read the full article and dive deeper into these questions, please visit the Vialto website.  And if you'd like to learn how Vialto can optimize your own organization's high-volume immigration capabilities, contact us.