How do I choose the best corporate immigration experts to represent my company?

Ryvin Wallace Group (RWG) provides eight key factors to consider when choosing an immigration legal services provider.

by Christina Lang Wallace, Partner, Ryvin Wallace Group

U.S. businesses that rely on top foreign talent for technical, sales, marketing, support and leadership roles rely heavily on HR personnel or company immigration specialists to bring the foreign employee on-board quickly. All wish for minimum burden to the foreign national or their managers. HR, in turn, relies heavily on immigration law firms and lawyers. At RWG, having managed dozens of immigration programs of varying sizes, we understand the pressure felt by our HR counterparts to hire or transfer foreign talent without delay. We also understand how challenging the process can be and that even simple cases, if not handled correctly, can easily turn into a logistical nightmare – resulting in costly delays, lost business opportunities and unpleasant escalations. In sum, HR should have access to competent immigration counsel, as needed during any busy day, capable of providing quick, practical and cost-effective immigration advice. To help your business effectively outsource the immigration function, here are eight critical factors to look for when choosing your company’s optimal immigration legal services provider:

1.) Not any firm – one practicing Business Immigration (Specialty Area). Find a law firm and make sure it specializes in business or corporate immigration. Review the website of any immigration law firm and look for business immigration. Immediately eliminate notaries (non-lawyer) companies because you do not want to entrust your immigration work to someone who has not developed the analytical skills which come from law school and mentorship by senior lawyers. On the other end of the spectrum, excellent large firms may handle various types of law, even international work, but without a specialty in immigration, they will be learning on your dime or outsourcing your work. Among boutique (specialty) immigration-only firms, care that you do not hire a firm that concentrates on sub-specialties within immigration law unrelated to business/employment, such as asylum, family immigration or removal/deportation.

2.) Breadth of Services. Business immigration covers a breadth of services. Make sure the business or corporate immigration firm you choose can assist you with the variety of business immigration issues affecting you - Temporary Visas (NIVs), green cards including Labor Certifications and other Immigrant Visas (IVs), global personnel transfers, EB-5 Investors. See if the firm has other helpful services for your company, like understanding in cross-border tax issues, immigration policy planning or I-9 training.

3.) Experience Areas. Corporate immigration itself involves additional challenges and focus areas even to the practicing business immigration lawyer. Does the firm have the lawyer(s) who can understand your industry-specific visa issues like work for tech/biotech companies, financial services firms, scientists, aviation, energy, teachers/professors, construction companies? Are they used to dealing with management and executives and familiar with service level and communication standards associated with corporate environments. Has the firm engaged in overseas and global immigration issues if you need them to? Will you need the business immigration firm to answer extra questions on employment verification (I-9s) and management of internal compliance records?

4.) Fees. Keep in mind that there are always three main fees in your immigration representation: the legal fee, the disbursement charges, and the filing fees to the government. Consider whether you wish to use a firm with a Standard Flat Fee pricing structure (typical in immigration law) or whether you are hiring a firm that runs its fees on an hourly basis. You should ask for a Fee Schedule. Flat fees tend to guarantee that you are not paying for negative efficiencies and learning on your dime.

5.) Representation of Interests. Immigration always creates a dual representation situation: the firm doing the work represents your company AND the foreign national. This is unusual in law. Note that many companies are introduced to business immigration lawyers through their foreign workers. Perhaps you are dealing with multiple immigration lawyers brought in by your employees - consider consolidating your immigration matters with one firm that has your company interests in mind. Make sure the lawyers your foreign nationals use understand dual representation and represent your corporate interests. Tell them to communicate with you sufficiently in advance of a decision. Ask the firm to regularly communicate status reports to you on various matters. Ask them to consolidate information on multiple employees to save you time reviewing immigration matters.

6.) Communication/IT Tools. Your immigration law firm should have an IT communication tool for running immigration work. You may want access to allow your company to follow/check certain critical information – the foreign worker’s personal and visa information, expiration dates, company data. The system might allow let you generate your own reports. Nowadays, if you wish to run your reports, you can see reports and data in real-time – do you want that or do you want a once-a month update visa projects being completed or quarterly update delivered by email. These options are available. State your preferences.

7.) Good Lawyering. Don't forget to check the credentials of the law firm. Immigration law, in the complexity as it exists today, is fairly new and as a result the industry is riddled with sloppy lawyering. Has the firm or senior lawyer been practicing immigration law for 10+ years? Have they seen the immigration landscape grow and change? Is the attorney in charge experienced enough and a member of AILA, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (www.aila.org)? Law schools and earlier firm experience, if you can understand and analyze this, are also key factors in how your work will be handled.

8.) Adequate staff. How large is your company and how large is the firm's immigration group? Can they adequately address your company's immigration needs? Some corporations require several immigration lawyers and paralegals to handle the corporation's volume of cases. The vast majority of companies need a single lawyer/paralegal team.

Please do not hesitate to call our experts, Ms. Christina Wallace or Mr. Michael Ryvin, to discuss your company's current immigration services. Ms. Wallace and Mr. Ryvin have been practicing business immigration law for more than 25 years combined and are partners in the firm, Ryvin Wallace Group (www.ryvinlaw.com). Their experience is varied as they have worked in the large and prestigious immigration-only and multi-specialty law firms as well as smaller immigration boutiques, serving many types of companies and business individuals. Their ethics and dedication are reflected in their consulting and legal strategies and carry through the firm’s culture. For a consultation on how to best obtain optimal immigration legal services, please contact Christina Wallace at 703-531-0790, christy@ryvinlaw.com or Michael Ryvin at 415-215-6883, michael@ryvinlaw.com.