Practice Areas & Industries: Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP’s Immigration Group represents a wide range of publicly traded companies, multi-national corporations, privately held businesses, universities, research institutions, arts and entertainment organizations, professors, and professionals with respect to both work visa and permanent resident (green card) cases. Led by two partners long recognized in the field of immigration law, the group has significant experience in many other areas related to the U.S. immigration system, including visa applications at United States Consulates, labor certification proceedings before the U.S. Department of Labor, I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) compliance, immigration policy formulation, naturalization, family immigration law, and NAFTA immigration issues.

Services Available

Work Visa Proceedings

• E-1/E-2 (treaty trader/investor) visas
• E-3 (Australian Trade Agreement) professional visas
• H-1B (specialty occupation) visas
• H-3 (trainee) visas
• J-1 (on-the-job trainee) visas
• L-1 (intracompany transferee) visas
• O-1 (extraordinary ability) visas
• P-1 (athlete/artist/entertainer) visas
• Q (cultural exchange) visas
• R (religious worker) visas
• TN (NAFTA professional) visas

Non-Work Visas

• B-1 (business visitor) visas
• B-2 (tourist) visas
• F-1 (student) visas
• J-1 (exchange visitor) visas
• M (vocational school) visas

Employment-Based Permanent Residence Proceedings

• Labor certification-based cases including PERM and special handling faculty and professional athlete cases
• Extraordinary Ability Immigrant Petitions
• Outstanding Researcher/Professor Immigrant Petitions
• National Interest Waiver Immigrant Petitions
• Multi-National Manager and Executive Immigrant Petitions

Family-Based Immigration Cases

• K-1/K-3 (Fiancé/Fiancée and spouse of U.S. citizen) Visas
• V-1 (Relative) Visas
• Spousal Immigrant Petitions
• Immigrant Petitions by other U.S. Citizen and Permanent Resident Relatives
• Permanent Residence Applications based upon employment or family relationships
• Adjustment of Status and Immigrant Visa Applications

Visa Applications at U.S. Consulates

• Applications for immigrant and all non-immigrant visa categories at all U.S. Consulates, including logistical advice on interview scheduling and issuance time tables
• Troubleshooting when Consular officer is resistant to issuing a visa
• Advice on special issues such as Technology Alert List and other security-related checks

I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification Assistance)

• Employer I-9 questions and advice
• Self-audit I-9 programs for employer compliance
• I-9 training
• I-9 audit defense

Naturalization and Citizenship

• Naturalization and citizenship applications
• Derivative citizenship claims
• Waivers of Excludability
• J-1 waivers for foreign medical graduates

Waivers of inadmissibility for convictions

• Advance permission to re-enter
• Waivers of inadmissibility for past conduct

General Counseling

• Establishment of corporate immigration sponsorship programs and policies
• Compliance with Special Registration

Representative Experience

Spanish Technology Foundation
Organization of U.S. Subsidiary of Spanish Technology Foundation
Dinsmore & Shohl organized the U.S. subsidiary of a Spanish-based technology institute with offices worldwide.

Multiple Clients
Immigration Cases
Mr. Adams and Mr. Halpert have handled thousands of immigration cases during the course of their more than two decades of practice as immigration lawyers. Mr. Adams and Mr. Halpert's experience includes the following:

• Managing the nationwide business immigration sponsorship programs for an array of publicly-traded companies and privately-held enterprises including companies in the Global Positioning System technology; publishing; freight forwarding; paper and pulp; public health; film technology; packaging design; and software fields;
• Assisting companies in developing and administering immigration sponsorship policies;
• Helping companies engaging in corporate transactions such as mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs to plan for and execute strategies to protect the immigration status of valued foreign national workers;
• Advising companies on I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) compliance matters, and providing I-9 training;
• Handling a large volume of all types of L (intracompany transferee) work visa cases on behalf of executives, managers, and specialists with multi-national organizations, including for companies with new U.S. offices and multi-national companies that qualify for L blanket status;
• Handling a large volume of H-1B (specialty occupation professional) work visa petitions of all types including those involving complex degree equivalency issues and for start-up companies, as well as for Singaporean and Chilean nationals under the special treaty that applies to them;
• Handling a large volume of TN (Trade NAFTA) work visa applications for a wide array of occupations on the NAFTA list of occupations;
• Handling a large volume of E-1 and E-2 (treaty trader/investor) visa applications for foreign companies that make an investment in a U.S. company;
• Handling a large volume of O-1 (extraordinary ability) work visa cases for entertainers, athletes, artists, engineers, scientists, business professionals and others;
• Handling a wide array of B-1 (business visitor) visa applications including for persons with special challenges such as past denials, security check issues, and unusual dynamics;
• Handling a large number of J-1 (exchange visitor) visa applications and related J-1 waiver issues;
• Preparing appeals for filing with the U.S. Administrative Appeals Unit;
• Counseling F-1 foreign students on work authorization and maintenance of status issues;
• Securing K-1 and K-3 visas for fiancées and relatives of U.S. citizens;
• Assisting foreign nationals who have criminal records in securing waivers of ineligibility to permit the issuance of U.S. visas;
• Assisting foreign nationals in applying for and securing U.S. visas of all types at U.S. Embassies around the world;
• Handling a very large number of PERM-labor certification exempt Immigrant Petition-based permanent residence applications including for persons in the Extraordinary Ability, National Interest Waiver, Outstanding Professor, Outstanding Researcher, and Multinational Executive and Manager immigrant classifications;
• Handling a very large number of PERM labor certification based cases (and the precursor conventional labor certification application) based cases;
• Handling immigration cases for professors and researchers, including special handling labor certifications;
• Handling a very large number of adjustment of status to permanent resident applications;
• Handling a large number of consular-based immigrant visa applications;
• Handling family-based permanent residence applications for foreign nationals who marry U.S. citizens, as well as joint petitions to remove status;
• Handling follow-to-join immigrant visa applications;
• Handling Diversity Lottery based permanent residence applications;
• Handling naturalization applications including ones for persons who have eligibility issues such as with regard to continuity of residence, Selective Service registration, and past offenses;
• Handling derivative citizenship applications for persons who have a U.S. citizen parent or parents but were born abroad; and
• Advising U.S. permanent residents on strategies relating to their maintenance of their status upon their temporary assignment abroad, including the acquisition of re-entry permits.