Blog readers may not be aware of the challenges the key players involved in a merger, acquisition or other corporate restructuring encounter when they try to understand the secret immigration law affecting M & A deals. The law is secret because it exists primarily in old memoranda issued by the former Immigration and Naturalization Service – an agency abolished in February, 2003. The key foreign workers (whether they are the executives, managers, or critically important technical staff) must file one-at-a-time and in advance to transfer to the payroll of the successor company and continue to be lawfully employed. Often, the immigration requirements are considered as an afterthought. If the deal closes and the immigration niceties have not been followed, then the transferring employees must rely on the kindness of strangers, the folks at the successor agency, the unit within the Department of Homeland Security known as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. To avoid the potential risks and miseries of relying on folks whose primary mission is homeland protection, readers of this blog may want to read No Broom and Shovel Brigade: Cleaning Up Immigration Messes in M & A Transactions Before They Occur by Teri A. Simmons, David Grunblatt and Angelo A. Paparelli