Overview
From multinational corporations transferring key personnel from overseas, to small businesses wanting to hire foreign nationals with particular technical skills, our clients turn to Locke Lord for quality assistance on immigration matters. We work closely with clients to qualify their employees in the most appropriate categories among the visa types. We not only address the client's need to obtain work authorization as quickly as possible, but also help the client make procedural choices that enhance the individual's ability to live and work in the U.S. on a long-term basis. Importantly, many of our immigration attorneys practice labor and employment law in addition to immigration law, and are thus uniquely situated to assess the impact our clients’ immigration law choices have on their labor and employment related obligations.
We give our clients personal attention and practical guidance throughout the complex visa qualification process, from the initial applications filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security, and the increasingly difficult procedures for obtaining visas at U.S. Embassies and Consulates across the world, to the frequently complicated experience of entering U.S. borders, and the newly challenging worksite enforcement issues facing today’s employers.
Some of the ways we assist clients in the immigration area include:
- Obtaining “H-1B” status for professionals in many different fields and a variety of industries.
- Obtaining “L-1” intracompany transferee status for managerial, executive, and specialized knowledge personnel for both large and small companies with multinational operations.
- Qualifying persons of extraordinary ability for “O-1” status.
- Procuring “E-1” treaty trader and “E-2” treaty investor visas for managers and specialized employees of certain foreign-owned U.S. companies and “E-3” visas for Australian nationals.
- Assisting employers in obtaining “H-3” training visas for trainees.
- Helping individuals obtain permanent resident status, including both employment-based and family-sponsored permanent resident status.
- Strategically structuring immigration law choices for our clients that account for both our clients' immigration and labor and employment related needs.
- Advising clients on administrative compliance matters, including verification of work authorization, Form I-9 recordkeeping requirements, Social Security number “mismatch” situations, and preparation for possible worksite enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
- Defending enforcement actions.