Gallagher, Malloy, and Georges

BUSINESS-BASED IMMIGRATION
We represent large, multinational companies in connection with the temporary employment of professionals and intra-company transfers, the periodic entry of business visitors, and permanent employment of foreign workers.

WORK VISAS FOR FOREIGN NATIONALS
If your company wishes to hire a foreign employee, it is often necessary to file a petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services before employee’s admission to the United States. We will help you follow complex federal immigration regulations as well as guide you through the application process in order to get the desired results as fast as possible. We advocate on behalf of clients before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Labor, U.S. Consulates and the State Department.

Non-immigrant visas are as follows:

-	Diplomatic Employees and Personnel (A)
-	Business Visitors (B-1) or Tourists (B-2)
-	Treaty Trader (E-1) or Treaty Investor (E-2)
-	Specialty Occupation Workers (E-3)
-	Students (F-1)
-	International Organizations Employees (G)
-	Temporary Worker (H1-B)
-	Temporary Worker (H-2B)
-	International Media Representatives (I)
-	Exchange Visitors (J)
-	Intra-Company Transferees for Managers and Executives (L-1)
-	Extraordinary Ability Workers (O)
-	Artists and Athletes (P)
-	Cultural Exchange Visitors (Q)
-	Religious Workers (R)
-	Temporary Workers: Canadian and Mexican Professionals Under NAFTA (TN)

Permanent Employment for Foreign Nationals
Your company might want to employ a foreign national permanently. Permanent resident status is given to people who are classified under Employment Preference System. The Employment Preference System allows certain immigrants to obtain permanent residence ("green cards") in the United States. The Employment Preference System is divided into the following categories:

First Preference:
Foreign nationals who have "extraordinary ability," outstanding professors and researchers, and certain multinational executives and managers.

Second Preference:
Foreign nationals who hold advanced degrees or have exceptional ability in their field.

Third Preference:
Skilled workers, professionals, and other workers. The other workers category covers workers who are "capable of performing unskilled labor," and who are not temporary or seasonal. Skilled workers must be capable of performing skilled labor requiring at least two years training or experience.

Fourth Preference
Certain religious workers, ministers of religion, international organization employees, and recommended current and former US government employees.

IMMIGRATION – EMPLOYER COMPLIANCE
We will help you avoid steep fines for violation of immigration laws by guiding you through complexities of complying with federal regulations.

-	Employment Verification/I-9 Compliance
-	Internal audits of employment eligibility verification processes and forms
-	Participation in E-Verify Program, formerly known as the Basic Pilot Program; the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “IMAGE” program; and the SSA’s Social Security Number Verification Service
-	Compliance with state and local immigration laws and initiatives, and obligations imposed by vendors or contractors

We can help you obtain foreign talent and protect your business from immigration-related mistakes.

FAMILY-BASED IMMIGRATION

-	Marriage Based Green Card
-	Immediate Relative Green Card
-	K-1 Fiancee Petitions
-	I-751 marriage waivers for conditional permanent residents
-	Battered Spouses
-	Citizenship
-	Writ of Mandamus for Naturalization and Immigration Application Delays

INVESTMENT-BASED IMMIGRATION
The employment-based 5th preference category, also known as employment-creation visas, is available to those investors, who have invested, or are in the process of investing, lawfully obtained capital in a new commercial enterprise employing at least 10 full-time US workers. The amount of the investment must be at least one million dollars, unless the investment is to be in a targeted employment area, in which case the investment need only be five hundred thousand dollars. To qualify as an immigrant investor, the alien must invest in a new commercial enterprise. This can be done by starting a new business; by purchasing and restructuring a new business; by expanding and substantially changing the net worth or number of employees in a business; or by investing in a troubled business, so that there is a forty percent increase in the net worth or in the number of employees of the business.

POLITICAL ASYLUM
Political asylum is a form of protection that allows individuals to remain in the United States if they are afraid of returning to their home country because of persecution due to political opinion, race, religion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group.
A person granted asylum may receive a green card after one year of being in asylum status.

REPRESENTATION BEFORE IMMIGRATION COURT, BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS AND UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTS
Very often foreign nationals will finds themselves in removal (deportation) proceedings from the United States due to overstaying the term of an approved nonimmigrant visa or otherwise violating immigration laws. Our attorneys regularly appear before judges in the United States Immigration Courts on our clients’ behalf to prevent deportation and/or detention.

If you would like additional information or a consultation, please contact our offices at (215) 963-1555, or click here for our contact form.