Practices & Industries

Immigration

As an integral part of International Business, the attorneys in the immigration practice are well versed in all aspects of business-related U.S. immigration and visa law. Our immigration attorneys have more than 30 years experience representing companies, universities and nonprofit organizations before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Department of Labor and the Department of Justice. Our immigration clients include multinational, foreign and domestic corporations based throughout the world in a wide variety of industry sectors including manufacturing, telecommunications, biomedical, health care, software development, ecommerce, retail and financial services.

Experience Highlights

We work closely with clients to understand their businesses, goals and structures in order to obtain temporary work visas, U.S. permanent residence status and U.S. citizenship for their key personnel, while effectively and efficiently navigating the constantly changing immigration laws and procedures. We use immigration agents throughout Europe and Asia who assist us in swiftly working to obtain visas through U.S. embassies and consulates. We can respond rapidly, effectively and creatively to a broad array of immigration issues or problems.

We also counsel a number of private and public companies regarding the immigration consequences of mergers and acquisitions on their employees in nonimmigrant status or pursuing permanent residency. For companies which are heavily engaged in mergers and acquisition activity, this is a critical aspect which is often overlooked, but which is vitally important to preserving the status of foreign employees.

Working with a dedicated and experienced paralegal staff, our immigration attorneys have successfully handled a variety of matters such as:

Temporary Work Visas

  • L-1A and L-1B executive, manager and specialized knowledge intracompany transferee visas
  • Blanket L petitions
  • E-1 and E-2 treaty trader and treaty investor corporate registrations and visas for executive, manager and essential skilled employees for companies from countries such as Germany, France, the U.K., Sweden, Denmark, Mexico, Canada and Japan
  • E-3 Australian temporary work visas
  • H-1B temporary professional work visas, for businesses, nonprofits, educational institutions, hospitals and medical providers
  • H1-B1 temporary professional work visas under the U.S./Chilean trade agreement and the U.S./Singapore trade agreement
  • TN temporary NAFTA professionals from Canada and Mexico
  • O extraordinary alien visas for professors, researchers, scientists, entertainers and athletes
  • P athletes or entertainers coming with a group
  • H-3 employee training visas
  • J-1 exchange aliens coming for training or business exchange
  • B-1 business visitors coming for meetings, training or employment, when employed by foreign entity
  • R-1 religious worker visas

Permanent Residence Cases

  • EB-1 immigrant petitions/applications for intracompany managers and executives
  • EB-1 immigrant petitions/applications for outstanding researchers and professors at companies, nonprofits and universities
  • EB-1 immigrant petitions/applications for extraordinary aliens in business, science, education and the arts (both sponsored and self-sponsored)
  • EB-2 immigrant petitions/applications for advanced degreed professionals in the U.S. national interest (both sponsored and self-sponsored), including physicians
  • EB-2 immigrant petitions/applications for advanced degreed professionals through labor certification (both pre- and post-PERM)
  • EB-3 professional and skilled workers through labor certification (both pre- and post-PERM)
  • EB-2 and 3 professional registered nurses (RNs) and physical therapists (PTs) through Schedule A Blanket labor certification
  • EB-4 religious workers and ministers
  • EB-5 immigrant investors
  • DV Diversity Lottery winners
  • Family immigrant visas through marriage, as fiancés/fiancées (K-1 or K-3), parents and other family categories

Other Matters

  • U.S. citizenship (naturalization), including for spouses of U.S. citizens and spouses of U.S. citizens employed abroad
  • Preservation of residence for citizenship purposes for employees of U.S. companies assigned abroad
  • Reentry permits to preserve U.S. permanent resident status
  • Waivers of the two-year (J-1) home country requirement
  • Appeals to the U.S. CIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA) and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)
  • Representation regarding I-9 (employment verification documentation) audits, unauthorized employment investigations and immigration discrimination cases before the DOJ Office of Special Counsel

For detailed information on U.S. immigration laws and visas, see our Immigration Primer.

Name/Title Phone V-Card Email

Sarah L. Ford

Partner

 t 919.835.4507 V-Card Email

L. Elizabeth Gibbes

Partner

 t 843.727.2687 V-Card Email

Albert E. Guarnieri

Partner

 t 704.335.9888 V-Card Email

Todd M. Rubin

Special Counsel

 t 919.835.4598 V-Card Email

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