Immigration & Nationality
Whether a foreign company is coming to the United States to do business, or a U.S. employer is casting a wider net in their search for the best qualified personnel, Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke LLP provides strategies and solutions for the immigration needs of clients in a host of situations . . . .•A major information services company needs to qualify foreign computer personnel to develop or adapt applications of its software products for U.S. customers, and later to work on their installation.
•An Asian electronics company, transmitting technology to a joint venture in the United States, wants to map out a plan to obtain visas for key personnel.
•A U.S. advertising agency needs to gain petition approval for a British actor, critical to a series of new commercials.
•In becoming CEO of a U.S. subsidiary, a transferring executive wishes to weigh the immigration and tax considerations in obtaining a “green card” against one of several nonimmigrant (temporary) visa options.
•Management of a newly acquired company needs to know its legal exposure when it suspects that many of its personnel are unauthorized to work.
The number and quality of foreign students in the United States make them an attractive source of talent for many American companies, but work visa quotas and restrictions demand advance planning to develop the most effective recruitment and hiring policies. In many fields, including the biotechnology, computer and accounting inudstries, personnel trained abroad are an important resource. The United States remains an important consumer market, so it is attractive as a site for manufacturing and service operations. At the same time, the perceived need by Congress to protect U.S. workers has produced tensions in immigration law that demand a higher level of understanding and sophistication. We have also seen within the most conventional areas of the law, including estate and income tax, banking, international and employment law, how often immigration and citizenship questions arise.
The Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke immigration and nationality practice is led by Kenneth A. Schultz, Ted J. Chiappari and Stanley Mailman, who have many years of practical experience in immigration and nationality law and a reputation for scholarship. We offer a wide range of services in matters dealing with entry to the United States, temporary work-authorized visa status and the acquisition and loss of U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residence (the “green card) as well as compliance issues faced by employer of foreign nationals.
We represent companies and their employees in all aspects of business immigration. Our immigration clients include numerous global organizations headquartered domestically and overseas, and we are intimately familiar with the legal aspects of international movement of personnel. Major European and American publishers, European and Asian industrial groups, domestic and international information services companies, manufacturers of consumer goods, entertainment, design and fashion companies, and hedge funds, private equity firms and other financial institutions are among our long-standing clients. We have fostered relationships with colleagues and law firms around the globe to complement our expertise in U.S. immigration law and allow us to address clients’ outbound immigration issues. Our foreign language capabilities include Bulgarian, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.