Employment

Visas

Our firm obtains employment visas of all types. These include:

• H-1B status for professionals under the “specialty occupation” category
• L-1 intracompany transferee status for companies with parent, subsidiary or affiliate organizations abroad
• TN status for nationals of Canada and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• PERM labor certification for permanent residency for employees
• EB-1 “extraordinary ability” or “outstanding professors or researchers” permanent residency
• EB-2 “national interest waiver” permanent residency
• O-1 visas for foreign nationals with “outstanding ability”; and P-1 visas for professional athletes
• The firm also counsels employers and employees with regard to B-1 business visitor visas and entry on ESTA, the visa waiver program.

Typical professional occupational classifications include:

• managers and executives
• physicians
• all types of engineers and related professions, including but not limited to software engineers, programmer analysts, aerospace engineers, system analysts, mechanical, electrical and structural engineers
• accountants
• lawyers
• teachers
• architects
• various construction and other trades, technical, service and hospitality positions can in some cases qualify for TN status. Some may also qualify for PERM labor certification for permanent residency.

Employer I-9 and

E-Verify Compliance

We provide employers with I-9 employment verification and E-Verify best practices compliance counseling. The firm provides training tailored to our employer clients’ corporate structure and needs. I-9 trainings are often presented to a client’s HR staff and include:

• protocols for proper I-9 form completion
• tips for handling difficult or unusual work authorization documentation
• recommended procedures for storing I-9 documentation
• systems for alerting employees of status expiration and “tickling” I-9 forms that require reverification

The firm also offers informal audits of an employer’s I-9 forms, with the option of reviewing a representative sample of I-9s to detect patterns of non-compliance and training issues. We represent employers who have been served with DHS subpoenas and are being audited by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents. The firm also represents employers in the administrative court process in the event an ICE audit evolves into litigation.