Business Immigration

U.S. organizations, whether large or small, increasingly hire employees from around the globe.  The search for talent within industries such as financial services, engineering, biomedical, high-tech, pharmaceutical, automotive and other key sectors of the U.S. economy is relentless in its intensity.  In response to the needs of companies to manage their internationally mobile workforce, the law firm of Vedder Price has created a Business Immigration Practice Group, designed specifically to serve the immigration law compliance needs of companies throughout the country.  In addition, the firm provides counsel and assistance with respect to all types of employment-related immigrant and nonimmigrant visa categories.

Specific services include:

• Determining and applying for the most appropriate visa categories for individuals who intend to stay temporarily in the United States for employment or other business-related reasons, including:

1. Persons to be employed in professional positions, as well as persons of extraordinary ability and achievement in business, the arts, science, education, medicine or sports (H-1B, TN, O and P categories).
2. Executives, supervisors and employees essential to establishing and managing foreign-owned companies in the United States (E-1 and E-2 categories).
3. Intracompany transferees from the same or related entities abroad who will be employed as executives, managers or employees with specialized knowledge (L-1 category).
4. Company employees coming briefly to the United States to attend meetings, negotiate contracts or attend seminars or conferences (B-1 category).
5. Trainees, interns and students who may receive remuneration during their training in the United States (H-3, J-1 and F-1 categories).

• Preparation and processing of permanent resident visas for executives and other professional employees, including:

1. Priority Workers (multinational executives and managers, outstanding professors and researchers, and persons of extraordinary ability in their field).
2. Members of the professions holding advanced degrees, and persons of exceptional ability in the arts, sciences or business, including those eligible for national interest waivers and those requiring labor certification.
3. Skilled workers, professionals and other workers generally requiring labor certification (certification from the U.S. Department of Labor that there are no available U.S. workers for these positions).
4. Investors who make a substantial investment in a commercial enterprise that will employ U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. 

• Due diligence regarding immigration law issues in corporate mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other forms of corporate reorganization.
• Counseling employers regarding compliance with immigration laws (IRCA) in order to avoid civil and criminal penalties.  Specific services include:

1. Establishing internal corporate immigration policies.
2. Providing regular training to clients regarding current legal requirements, I-9 forms, document retention, and hiring practices.
3. Conducting I-9 audits for employers and advising employers on how to handle government audits and investigations by the INS, including mitigation of damages.

• Advising clients as to the effects of a RIF on foreign employees.
• Assisting in processing visa applications and resolving other State Department matters in U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world, and assisting employers with their non-U.S. immigration needs through our network of attorneys licensed in other countries.
• Advising clients regarding the newly formed U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Gabrielle M. Buckley manages the Firm’s Business Immigration Practice Group. Ms. Buckley is a past chair of the American Bar Association’s Immigration & Nationality Committee of the Section of International Law, and she sits on the Advising Council to the ABA’s Commission on Immigration. Ms. Buckley has over 20 years of experience representing multi-national and domestic organizations in connection with their business immigration matters. Ms. Buckley received her Juris Doctorate degree from DePaul University College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Mundelein College in Chicago. She also attended Konan University in Kobe, Japan, through the University of Illinois. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and currently serves on its Corporate Practice Committee, and she is an officer of the International Bar Association’s Immigration Committee. She served for several years as Chairman of the Chicago Bar Association’s International Law & Practice Committee. Ms. Buckley is an Adjunct Professor of Law at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and has taught Business Law at Northwestern University. Ms. Buckley speaks and writes extensively on business immigration subjects. She is conversant in Japanese and works out of the Firm’s Chicago office.

P. Michelle Jacobson joined the Chicago office of Vedder Price in 2005 as an associate in the Corporate Practice Area. Ms. Jacobson advises multinational corporations, U.S. employers and foreign nationals with regard to corporate immigration laws and related matters. Her practice emphasizes corporate business aspects of immigration law, including employer sanction issues and nonimmigrant and immigrant employment-based visas. She works closely with corporate clients to plan and develop strategies and procedures for handling the employment of foreign national workers. She advises companies on immigration law issues in corporate mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other forms of corporate reorganization. Ms. Jacobson conducts I-9 audits and advises clients with regard to compliance and discrimination issues.

Anita M. Benditzson is an immigration paralegal in our Chicago office. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993 from Washington University in St. Louis, where she majored in Psychology, with a minor in Jewish and Near Eastern Studies. Ms. Benditzson has over 12 years of immigration experience. She is bilingual in English and Hebrew.

Susan A. Rubeor is an immigration paralegal in our Chicago office. Ms. Rubeor is a graduate of Aquinas College in 1994 with a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts. She has over eight years of experience in immigration, focusing on corporate and business filings. Additionally, she has traveled extensively overseas recruiting and processing foreign nationals for employment in shortage occupations in the United States.

Andrew Nelson is an immigration paralegal in the Chicago Office. Mr. Nelson received his Bachelor of Arts in 2003 from Tulane University with a major in psychology and a minor in sociology. Mr. Nelson has been a member of the Immigration Practice Group since April, 2004.

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• September 16, 2008
  Immigration & Employment Update for the Hospitality Industry

• Immigration Raids-Tips for Avoiding Corporate Liability
• Employer Immigration Alert - H-1B Visas
• Employer Liability for Use of Subcontractors
• Employers: New Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, Required as of December 26, 2007
• H-1B Petitions May Be Filed on April 1, 2008 for the Next Fiscal Year
• H-2B Cap Reached for Temporary Workers
• Immigration I-9 Forms
• Social Security “No-Match” Regulations to Be Rewritten
• State and Local Law Alert
• U.S. Citizens Require Passports under Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

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