A significant portion, even the majority lately, of my new advisory clients are recent immigrants. This week I was approached in a public event about a first-time situation that caused me to pause and think about looking at the big picture of my role here.

The Big Picture

This is what I see:

• A significant portion of our local residents, neighbors, business owners, clients, and elected officials are immigrants. I am not alone in noticing that immigrants are more likely to become business owners and highly educated technical professionals over the long term than the overall U.S. population. Immigrants are reportedly 80% more likely to found a firm than U.S.-born individuals. About half of new scientists in the U.S. are immigrants. Attendance as a guest at any professional school’s graduation ceremony affirms that.
• A significant portion of the young scientists, medical professionals, and fin-tech people I meet in the ordinary course of business are recent immigrants.
• Official government data says 1 in 10 local residents are recent immigrants and the 2/3 of those are not citizens. This total seems low to me based on anecdotal observation.
• The higher portion of my clients who are elected officials is the result of niche marketing over the years, but it is not clear to me why so many are also immigrants.
• I would not ask a person about citizenship of immigration status, but they increasingly bring it up to me. I wonder if I should ask, if even for the purpose of improving risk management discussions. A significant number of clients volunteered that they recently passed the test to became U.S. citizens. Prior to their personal announcement, I did not know that they were not citizens. The U.S. has apparently added only a few hundred thousand new citizens this year, but a handful of them are my clients.
• The term “undocumented”, in my world, means that their temporary work visa has expired and they hope to get it renewed through an immigration attorney. I have not met anyone who came into the country without a temporary visa except those who came from Cuba decades ago. My Cuban personal connections became U.S. citizens long ago.
• As time goes on, I have more seemingly random business and social interactions with recent immigrants. The reasons behind this are not entirely clear, and I see no logical explanation yet.

The Most Common Stressful Scenarios

The status of my immigrant clients fall into these general categories, listed from the most common to the least common:

1. Most common for decades: Long time U.S. resident, business owner, homeowner, elected official, but the visa ran out and they are spending a small fortune with their immigration attorney trying to get it renewed. Nothing changes, year after year and decade after decade. They don’t feel like leaving U.S. is an option, their families have not known any other home, and they take a brave attitude that the current government terror will pass. I handle their financial and business services the same as a legal resident.
2. Second most common for decades: Employers who have undocumented workers on payroll. This is a mess and I have no good answers. Virtually every business in our region’s top industries is dependent on immigrant labor. My CPA peers get upset simply by me stating that fact. The government of NJ published analysis some years ago that an average of 70% of workers in specific named industries are undocumented. I’ve visited dozens of businesses where not a single person was white or spoke English. I best stay out of this legal mess, except to solve business crisis issues as they arise.
3. Recent U.S. temporary resident, but opened a business here and want a permanent U.S.-based trusted adviser. They tend to be nervous and insistent on ‘dotting the Is and crossing the Ts’ to avoid and perception of governmental risk. These tend to be building success based on their niche technical knowledge of bridging international trade practices.
4. Are expanding or moving business operations to Canada as a risk management or diversification strategy. I’ve had three of these requests this past month, compared to only one ever in my past.
5. Least common and most recent: Have a relative who is self-deporting and need advice on divesting/retitling of real estate and businesses.

Challenges

In all cases, I notice that the mechanics of working with them is straightforward; the same as a non-immigrant client. I face two challenges working with these client:

1. Understanding their speech. I really struggle to understand and feel awkward asking them to repeat themselves or to put it in writing. Often they use words outside of the common business/legal context so sometimes I need to backtrack if I initially misunderstood. Perhaps I can expand the use of technology to help with this and take more time to independently verify what I hear verbally.
2. Dealing with illogical fears. I often feel like saying something like “You won’t be audited for that little detail, it’s not worth amending the filing to correct it”. But I do not say that. If they are nervous, I address the fear, not the logic. Eventually, over time, they tend to trust my judgement as to what is material and accept suggestions of higher priority work.

Opportunities

Trust is earned over time, not by any immediate action. I have almost unknowingly developed a reputation as a CPA who can be trusted to handle difficult issues for immigrants. It was not a niche that I originally chose, but one that I am proud to serve now.