With nearly twenty full-time attorneys dedicated exclusively to immigration law, our firm provides top-tier legal services to individuals, multinational corporations, investors, small companies, universities and hospitals. HIRING FOREIGN NATIONALS We work with employers and foreign national employees in preparing and filing documentation necessary to obtain proper working status for the employees. Although we handle all categories of employment-based immigration, the employment visa categories which we utilize most frequently are the E-1 and E-2 (Treaty Trader and Investor), H-1B, H-2B and H-3 (Temporary Worker categories), J-1(Exchange Visitor), L-1 (Intracompany Transferee) and O-1 (Alien of Extraordinary Ability). We are frequently called upon to advise and develop strategies relating to H-1B portability and quota exemption. Our representation includes filing appropriate documentation, as required, with the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and U.S. Consulates outside the U.S. We also advise employers on I-9 and LCA compliance in the hiring of foreign nationals. UNIVERSITIES We are pleased to have many universities as our clients and even more as referral sources for their students and scholars who need individualized immigration advice and representation. We are invited by many universities to present on campus seminars to students and scholars and to do (free) consultations as requested. In addition to being available to universities to answer questions from advisors and deal with compliance issues, we are proud to have one of the largest practices in the country working with students, post docs, research associates and faculty. We advise J-1 exchange visitors regarding whether they are subject to the two year home residency requirement; obtain waivers or other visas if they are; apply for O-1 extraordinary ability visas; and apply for permanent residence status, either with employer sponsorship or through the self-sponsored extraordinary ability and national interest waiver categories. We provide free consultations for all university referrals. HOSPITALS We have a large number of hospitals and medical centers among our satisfied clients. Our work with hospitals involves both advice to hospital administrative staff on immigration compliance issues and advice to medical staff on temporary and permanent visa options. Please refer to the link below for a discussion of our work on behalf of physicians and on behalf of nurses. RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS We are proud to have been chosen by our clients and our peers in a nationally-recognized legal guide as “perhaps the best in the country in the university and medical research sectors.” We work with research organizations and researchers in applying for O-1 and H-1B visas, Outstanding Researcher Petitions, self-sponsored Extraordinary Ability and National Interest Waiver Petitions and waivers of the two year home residence requirements for J-1 Exchange Visitors. Our clients include some of the most well respected research organizations in the United States. EXTRAORDINARY-EXCEPTIONAL ABILITY A very significant part of our practice is focused on representation of foreign nationals seeking to qualify in the Extraordinary, Exceptional, Outstanding or National Interest categories for permanent residence and in the O-1 Extraordinary category. Our practice includes, but is certainly not limited to, researchers and clinical doctors with extraordinary ability. We have one of the largest staff in the country focusing exclusively on preparation of template reference letters to support these cases. Our success rate is such that over 25 universities and research institutions, as well as other immigration attorneys, refer foreign nationals to us to work on these types of petitions. PROFESSIONALS Our firm handles H-1B professional worker visas of both routine and highly complex varieties. Our services include prevailing wage analysis, obtaining expert opinions on combination of education and experience where necessary and proving “specialty occupation” status for transitional occupations. We’ve successfully advocated cutting edge solutions and strategies for H-1Bs, including quota exemptions, portability, nunc pro tunc extensions, recapturing time outside the U.S., 7th (and future) year extensions and other issues. PHYSICIANS Our physician clients range from medical residents to world-renowned physicians. Our work for medical residents primarily involves obtaining H-1B visas, but sometimes O-1 visas. We also have had great success in obtaining permanent residence status through the labor certification process for upper year residents. For J-1 residents, following the residency we often pursue waivers of the two year home residence requirement based upon service in a shortage area or with a Veterans Administration Hospital. In some cases, we pursue research waivers through the Department of Health and Human Services. For those physicians who are willing to work five years in a shortage area, the strategy of choice is often a national interest waiver. For our more experienced physician clients, our services generally include O-1 visa applications, EB-1 extraordinary ability petitions and labor certification applications through to permanent resident status. INVESTORS We have extensive experience working both with nonimmigrant investors applying for E-2 (treaty investor) and L-1(intracompany transferee) visas, and with immigrant investors applying for permanent residence status through the EB-5 program. On E-2 cases, we represent both the investor company and the individual foreign national investor. For the startup company or the U.S. subsidiary of a foreign company, we prepare the application for obtaining company registration as a treaty investor company and then prepare and file individual E-2 applications for managers and employees. For individual investors, we prepare all necessary documentation to obtain E-2 status, either as the investor or as the manager of a new treaty investor company. One of our partners was the attorney on the most famous E-2 case, Matters of Walsh and Pollard. Our experience working on EB-5 immigrant investor cases includes both representation of pooled investment companies and representation of individual investors investing in pooled investment companies, approved regional centers and their own companies. FAMILIES One of the most rewarding parts of our practice involves performing all of the legal work necessary to reunify families who are separated across the globe, as well as obtaining permanent residence status for foreign nationals marrying American citizens. Our work includes representation of fiancés, spouses, parents, children and siblings. We often provide strategic advice prior to marriage regarding the best strategies to avoid periods of separation during administrative processing.