Dykema has counseled clients on employment-based immigration issues for many years. We provide a full spectrum of legal services to companies and individuals throughout the United States who must comply with the complex requirements of U.S. immigration laws and regulations. We are sensitive to the many issues which must be carefully addressed in order to obtain a client’s employment objectives. Obtaining initial visas for personnel is not the end of the immigration process. As a client’s needs change and evolve, we assist in applying for extensions of stay, changes in status or permanent residency status for foreign national employees. We also keep our clients advised as to crucial deadlines and changes in immigration law that may impact their workforce.

Many of our clients hire foreign nationals on either a temporary or permanent basis to fill professional positions, and have discovered that the regulatory processes involved can tax the capabilities of the most sophisticated corporate human resource departments. We regularly assist clients employed by a foreign-based parent, subsidiary or affiliate to prepare the petitions and supporting documentation required to obtain L-1 visas for foreign national intracompany transferees, H-1B specialty occupation workers, and Canadian and Mexican TN professionals. Also, we assist foreign-based clients, interested in establishing a subsidiary or affiliate in the United States, to select and obtain the most appropriate visas for foreign national start-up personnel.

Non-Immigrant Workers:

• Foreign workers in professional/specialty occupations (H-1B)
• Intracompany transferees for multinational corporations (L-1A and L-1B)
• Treaty-Investor or Treaty-Trader visas for non-immigrant workers from foreign parent companies to their U.S. subsidiaries or affiliates (E-1, E-2)
• Trainees (H-3)
• Canadian and Mexican professional workers, under NAFTA (TN-1/TN-2)
• Religious Workers (R-1)

Immigrants (Permanent Residence/"Green Card"):

• First Preference employment-based immigrant petitions for executives and managers of multinational corporations
• Labor Certification Applications and Second or Third Preference immigrant petitions for U.S. employers seeking to hire foreign workers on a long-term, non-temporary basis
• Family-based petitions for spouses or parents of U.S. citizens
• Fiancé petitions
• Assistance with Immigrant Visa processing at consulates around the world
• Applications by Permanent Residents for Reentry Permits and Naturalization to U.S. citizenship