Business Immigration

The Vedder Price Business Immigration practice group counsels U.S.-and foreign-based companies with regard to all aspects of business-related immigration laws. Our clients include major international corporations such as Daimler AG; The Tata Group; Mesirow Financial, Inc.; Bank of Ireland; Union Bank of California; Bally Total Fitness Corporation; Avon Corporation; Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc.; Rush University Medical Center; Dearborn Capital Management LLC; and Kenny Construction.

Building on the firm’s expertise in corporate compliance and best practices, we work with clients to develop policies and internal processes to ensure compliance with federal and state-level immigration laws and minimize exposure to civil and criminal immigration enforcement. We provide proactive advice to best position a company and its workforce before and after corporate changes, including acquisitions, mergers, divestitures and reorganizations. The firm assists clients in obtaining temporary and permanent immigration status for their executive, managerial and professional employees in virtually every visa category. Together with the firm’s tax, benefits, executive compensation, estate planning and employment lawyers, we help clients develop and service their global workforce.

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 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 as an associate in the Corporate Practice Area, and has been practicing in the field of business immigration since 2001.

Ms. Jacobson counsels employers on employment strategies, corporate compliance and visa processing for foreign national employees. She works closely with corporate clients to develop strategies and procedures for defending workplace sanctions and formulating compliance policies. Ms. Jacobson conducts I-9 audits and advises clients with regard to hiring and discrimination issues. Her practice focuses on nonimmigrant and immigrant employment-based visas, PERM labor certifications, and permanent residency processing. She counsels employers on immigration law issues in corporate mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and other forms of corporate reorganization. She represents a wide range of clients, including U.S. and multinational corporations, healthcare organizations, banking institutions, specialty retailers, small business enterprises, and foreign investors.

Prior to joining Vedder Price, Ms. Jacobson worked for a prominent international immigration law firm, where she provided corporate immigration services and solutions to multinational and Fortune 500 companies. She also served as a judicial law clerk with the Executive Office for Immigration Review as part of the U.S. Department of Justice Attorney General’s Honors Program.

Ms. Jacobson received a Juris Doctorate degree from Boston University School of Law, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and French, with Honors, from Northwestern University.

Mark A. Partin joined the Chicago office of Vedder Price in 2006 as an associate in the Litigation Practice Area. He maintains a broad litigation and counseling practice and represents corporations and individuals in a variety of commercial litigation matters. In addition, he has successfully prosecuted immigration-related mandamus actions in federal court, as well as litigation matters in federal immigration court. He also frequently advises foreign nationals, U.S. employers, and multinational corporations with regard to employment-based visas, immigration-related legislation, residency, naturalization and citizenship. Mr. Partin is a member of the Chicago Bar Association Immigration and Nationality Law Committee.

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 15 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 ten years of experience in immigration and expatriation matters, 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 is a part-time law student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and currently serves as the Feature Articles Editor of the Loyola Consumer Law Review. Additionally, Mr. Nelson has served as a judicial extern for The Honorable Virginia M. Kendall in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Nelson received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2003 from Tulane University and has been a member of the Immigration Practice Group since April 2004.

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