For UK-based organisations engaging with the United States, whether through advocacy, operations, technology, or people, the challenge today is not simply understanding US law. It is navigating rapid policy shifts that directly affect how work gets done, how technology is used, and how talent is accessed and sustained.

Two areas are emerging repeatedly in conversations with impact-driven organisations working across borders: artificial intelligence and workforce mobility through immigration. Together, these shifts are reshaping organisational design and decision-making at a pace that many teams are struggling to absorb.

Artificial Intelligence: Rapid Adoption, Uneven Rules, Changing Work

Artificial intelligence is now embedded in how many organisation's function, particularly in recruitment, workforce planning, performance management, and service delivery. According to employer and workforce research cited across US policy and business publications, a majority of large US organisations use some form of automated or algorithmic decision-making in people-related processes.

What complicates this adoption is the regulatory environment. The United States does not yet have a single national AI law. Instead, regulation is emerging state by state, often with materially different requirements.

According to the US Chamber of Commerce, more than 1,100 AI-related bills were introduced across US states in a single year, reflecting the speed at which lawmakers are attempting to address concerns around bias, transparency, and accountability. These efforts are no longer theoretical. Several states have enacted laws that impose concrete obligations on organisations using AI in employment or high-impact decision-making.

As reported in state legislative analyses, Colorado’s Artificial Intelligence Act, for example, requires organisations deploying “high-risk” AI systems to take affirmative steps to prevent algorithmic discrimination and to conduct risk assessments. Other states, including California, are advancing similar frameworks focused on automated decision-making in hiring and employment.

For UK-based organisations, this matters because state-level obligations can apply regardless of where an organisation is headquartered. If AI tools influence people in certain US states, through hiring, screening, or digital services, those rules may still attach.

Legal scholars writing on employment and technology law have noted that AI use in the workplace is rapidly becoming one of the most active sources of regulatory and litigation risk in the US, particularly where algorithmic decisions affect access to jobs, pay, or advancement.

In practical terms, this means decisions about how work is structured, how performance is evaluated, and how opportunity is allocated are increasingly shaped by technology choices that now carry legal consequences.

Immigration and Talent Mobility: A Narrowing, Less Predictable Path

Immigration is the second area where US policy volatility is producing immediate organisational effects.

The primary skilled-worker visa used by US employers, the H-1B, remains capped at 85,000 visas per year, according to the American Immigration Council, a figure that has remained unchanged despite sustained growth in demand for specialised skills.

As reported by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), recent visa cycles have drawn hundreds of thousands of applications for those 85,000 slots, meaning the majority of applicants are unsuccessful. For organisations, this turns hiring into a probability exercise rather than a predictable pipeline.

Compounding this uncertainty, the US Department of Homeland Security has finalised changes to the H-1B selection process that move away from a purely random lottery. According to immigration law reporting, future selections will increasingly prioritise higher-paid and highly specialised roles, fundamentally altering workforce planning assumptions and compensation models.

At the same time, immigration policy has become more volatile overall. As reported by Reuters, proposals such as a $100,000 fee on certain H-1B petitions have triggered legal challenges from states and business groups, underscoring how quickly the rules of access to talent can shift through executive action alone. Major multinational employers have publicly warned international employees about travel and re-entry risks, highlighting how immigration uncertainty translates directly into operational disruption.

For organisations, immigration is no longer a discrete compliance issue. It has become a structural constraint affecting team design, leadership capacity, project continuity, and long-term workforce sustainability.

Where Policy Volatility Meets Organisational Reality

What connects AI regulation and immigration policy is not just legal complexity, but human and organisational impact.

According to leadership and workforce research cited in US business and policy reporting, a significant proportion of organisations report delaying hiring, technology deployment, or strategic initiatives due to regulatory uncertainty. When rules are fragmented or still emerging, organisations often default to caution, sometimes at the expense of mission delivery, innovation, and employee wellbeing.

This uncertainty shows up inside organisations as:

• Slower decision-making
• Increased reliance on legal review for operational choices
• Rising strain on leaders and HR teams asked to manage ambiguity without clear direction

In this environment, policy volatility becomes more than a legal challenge. It becomes an organisational capacity issue.

Why This Matters for Organisations Working Across Borders

For organisations engaging with Impact Lawyers, these issues rarely sit neatly within legal boundaries. AI governance and immigration policy shape how people are hired, how technology is deployed, and how work is actually carried out.

Understanding the law remains essential. But increasingly, so does understanding how unfinished or uneven policy landscapes affect real people, real teams, and real organisational systems.

As US policy continues to evolve at speed and often without uniformity. Organisations operating internationally will need support that bridges legal insight with operational reality, helping them adapt when policy moves faster than people can.

If your organisation is navigating these issues and would benefit from people-centred, cross-border HR and organisational support alongside your legal work, Carol Fraser partners with Impact Lawyers to help organisations adapt when policy changes faster than people can.