State GOP official may have violated visa law

[OhioChick]

A Canadian hired by the California Republican Party to do political work on a coveted H-1B visa appears to be in violation of immigration law because he is also earning money from another employer, federal officials said this week.

Christopher Matthews, a Canadian citizen, was hired in 2007 as full-time deputy political director, with responsibility for handling campaign operations and information technology for the country's largest state Republican Party operation, U.S. Department of Labor records show. He currently works for the state GOP as a political coordinator, said Hector Barajas, spokesman for the California Republican Party.

The state Republican Party applied for an H-1B visa on behalf of Matthews to fill the job of "political consultant" and was granted a visa labor certification in March 2007.

The Canadian's three-year H-1B visa is valid until Sept. 9, 2010, government records show.

But Federal Election Commission records show that Matthews has earned nearly $6,000 in 2008 working for a different employer - the San Diego Republican Party.

Jonathan Buettner, spokesman for the San Diego GOP, said Matthews is a valued database expert employed there under a "TN" visa - a renewable one-year special visa for Canadian and Mexican professional workers created under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Matthews' TN visa expires on Nov. 3, passport records show.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/23/PLIBV76FS.DTL

[thepurpose]

1. Was there a story like this before when Arnold was first elected?