immigration

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Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp’s Immigration Department has decades of experience providing a full range of immigration services with a unique emphasis on the representation of the entertainment, information technology, new media, fashion, sports, manufacturing, commercial, advertising and healthcare industries. Members of the Immigration Department have been recognized as: "Leading Immigration Lawyer in California," Chambers USA (2013); “Best Lawyers in America, Immigration Law,” Best Lawyers (2009-2013); "Top 5% of lawyers in Southern California," Southern California Super Lawyers (2004-2013); and AV® Preeminent™ Rating, Martindale-Hubbell.

Attorneys in the Immigration Department regularly speak and write on current immigration topics and the complicated issues employers are challenged with and are actively involved in the Immigration Section, Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Association of Immigration and Nationality Lawyers.

Our immigration attorneys are thoroughly accustomed to the administrative processes of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency (formerly known as the INS) and many other governmental agencies that affect employment and immigration into the United States. Concern for Homeland Security is perhaps most evident in the increasing complexity and uncertainty surrounding the legal process for immigration into the U.S. Our attorneys offer seasoned expertise and a nuanced understanding of the hurdles employers now face in recruiting technical and creative employees into the country for short- or long-term stays. E-Verify, ESTA and other emerging authorization procedures, coupled with changing visa application requirements and timetables, necessitate the comprehensive immigration practice for which MSK is well known. Regularly providing advice and advocacy with various governmental agencies, we seek a full range of employment visas, temporary immigration of foreign personnel, and intra-company transferees (including managers, professionals and technicians), including Treaty Trader, Treaty Investor, labor certifications, family green card petitions, citizenship petitions, and retention of U.S. resident status.

Our attorneys also regularly provide training to clients' in-house counsel and human resource professionals regarding immigration of foreign nationals, admission of international transferees, compliance with and implementation of federal immigration reform and control laws (including employment verification and I-9 form compliance), prohibited discrimination under Immigration and Nationality Laws, and Department of Labor audits.

Further, the Department represents clients during U.S Department of Labor and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) audits.

We work carefully with our clients on the front-end to develop a tailored innovative immigration management process. The Department also works closely with our Labor & Employment, Entertainment & New Media, Tax, Corporate, and Litigation Departments to effectively and efficiently achieve our clients' objectives. As a premier mid-size law firm, we are able to provide crucial immigration services at a competitive cost.

Spotlight

The modern day immigration laws saw their genesis with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as Hart-Cellar, which abolished the system of national-origin quotas. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 created for the first time penalties on employers who did not comply with immigration protocols. The Immigration Act of 1990 increased visas to the United States by 40%. These changes, which represent but a few, increased the complexity in properly complying with the regulations that companies needed to follow in order to attract and retain the workforces they were seeking.

With dexterity and discernment, MSK’s immigration department has worked for decades with companies seeking counsel in navigating the maze and increasingly complex laws governed by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Labor, Department of Justice, and State Department. L1’s, H1’s, EB-5’s, I-140’s . . . all are dependent on “getting it right”.

Advanced medical research, breakthrough technologies, key-executive recruitment, technical expertise . . . companies seek the best and brightest to build a successful enterprise. They also look to maintain compliance and manage investigations in to their hiring practices. Surviving an I-9 audit can not only be nerve wracking to a company’s executives but it stands to wreak havoc on the business if the audit yields issues of non-compliance. Having the right counsel can mitigate the damage and provide for a more thorough response to the threat.

MSK’s award winning professionals provide the experience, intellect, and responsiveness necessary to support clients looking for employee-mobility solutions and agency compliance.