Immigration

The Shipman immigration team provides wholistic and comprehensive immigration representation for employers and provides individual representation for those persons seeking assistance with non-sponsored immigration benefits, such as family-based applications.

U.S. employers face a rapidly changing immigration landscape, perhaps now more so than ever. To recruit, hire, and retain highly skilled foreign workers, it is critical for U.S. employers to have the assistance of immigration counsel who continuously educate themselves about the latest U.S. immigration developments and incorporate them effectively into their work process and product. Shipman engages in ongoing continuing legal education and maintains a reputation for responsiveness and prompt communication with our clients and the foreign nationals they employ or wish to employ.

Representing many different types of employers including health care institutions, educational institutions, manufacturers, investment firms, and scientific research firms, we provide comprehensive employment-based immigration solutions. We are uniquely positioned to handle business immigration needs on everything ranging from obtaining temporary nonimmigrant status and work authorization (e.g. H-1B, TN, L-1, and O-1 status) and legal permanent residence (a “green card”) for employees to helping the organization achieve compliance with Form I-9 verification and E-Verify requirements.

Clients rely on us for sound and creative strategies to obtain U.S. work authorization for foreign workers who are critical to the realization of organizational goals. We prepare and file the necessary petitions and/or applications with the appropriate agencies in the U.S. and abroad, as applicable, for any type of foreign worker an employer may wish to employ, including, for example:

• immunologists to develop a new cancer-fighting drug;
• environmental engineers to help develop an environmentally-friendly manufacturing process;
• financial quantitative analysts to program investment algorithms;
• world-renowned neurosurgeons to lead a hospital’s neurosurgery department;
• college or university professors to provide top quality education to students; and
• international students in F-1 status with Optional Practical Training (“OPT”).

Even after any applicable immigration benefit request is adjudicated, we help employers and their current or future foreign national employee navigate the array of supplemental issues that may arise in the immigration process, such as applying for a visa at a U.S. consulate or embassy or advising as to the impact of a job promotion or relocation on any existing or ongoing sponsorship.

Moreover, Shipman offers advice and counseling regarding worksite enforcement activity by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)) and compliance visits from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and/or the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). We help organizations implement preparedness plans and provide live assistance, when possible, for various forms of site visits or audits, including I-9 audits or visits from ICE.

For the individual, we prepare and file a wide range of applications for our clients, including applications for temporary dependent status (e.g., H-4, L-2, O-3, TD), marriage-based adjustment of status, applications for removal of conditions on permanent residence, and applications for naturalization to U.S. citizenship. Our experience includes helping develop strategies for achieving U.S. legal permanent resident status for adult children who may be “aging out” of derivative-status eligibility, allowing a foreign national fiancée to travel to the U.S. to reunite with their significant other, and bringing aging parents to the U.S. to provide necessary care and companionship.