Article Updated: May 2022
If you are from a different country than the U.S., and seek to immigrate, then you know you need the Best Immigration Attorney out there to go bat for you. If you are an employer and seek to hire a skilled worker who is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, again you need the best immigration attorney out there to work for you to accomplish your goal.
This post will detail my journey and hopefully help people in both categories above.
The Problem:
Let’s face it. There is no shortages of lawyers in America. From divorce lawyers, to DUI lawyers, to corporate lawyers, to medical malpractice lawyers to immigration lawyers, there is no scarcity. Let me elaborate on the last word: “scarcity”.
There is no scarcity if you go by numbers. Surely, there are a ton of lawyers. But many are simply mediocre. They can fill out the paperwork and ask you to wait. This is no more than the work of a glorified form filler. This will get you nowhere.
The same applies to immigration attorneys. If you search for the term “Best Immigration Attorney”, surely you will find a huge set of results. But how do you spot the really smart ones from the so so mediocre ones?
There is a world of difference between what a first class, top of the notch, immigration attorney can do for you, versus what a mediocre forms filler who happens to have a law degree can do; whether you are an individual seeking permanent residence in the US, or whether you are an employer who wants to hire the best skilled candidate you have located who happens to be overseas somewhere.
And that difference is because the top ones understand the specific situation the client is in and find out the details of the law that can be used to address the situation. And you can bet that the very best immigration lawyers will never ever break the law. They have too much invested in their bar admissions to be foolish enough to break any law. They just know the deep interpretations of it and the complicated nuances in it to help the situation.
These are passionate professionals, pushing their limits to solve clients’ problems. That is how they become successful. And their success allows them to bill at higher rates. Clients don’t mind paying the higher fees, because for them solution to their situation is more important than saving a few bucks up front, but not really solving their problem.
Background:
What has been stated above can best be explained by a real world story. I know it is real world, because it is my story.
I had graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from a reputed institution in India. Subsequently, I pursued a Master’s degree in Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering at a U.S. University. The story of my journey into the U.S. University can be found in the post here.
I worked very hard at the university, both in my academic studies as well as a Graduate Assistant, grading tests, and performing phenomenal research. Sure, I was getting paid $550 a month as my stipend to eat food and stay in a shared apartment, but I saw fellow students graduating and getting well paying jobs. I was not jealous of them; I just wanted a piece of the pie for myself also. Nothing wrong in that.
I wanted to settle down in life; but my professor kept piling more and more into the requirements of the research project. It appeared that I would never graduate at that rate. They even said, if you keep up with this, we will grant you a Ph.D., because the quality of the research is out of this world.
I was not interested in the Ph.D. Academia did not interest me at that point in life. I wanted to earn more money, so I could marry and settle down. That means I needed to find a job in industry. That was a bit difficult, because I was on an “F-1 Student Visa” and my professor would not sign off on a “Practical Training Visa”. And for the latter, one had to graduate first. This was a difficult situation to be in.
Peer Reaction and My Action:
My peers, some of whom were also looking for jobs and were on student visas, were keenly looking at what I would do, knowing the situation I was in. But outwardly, they were taunting me thinking I was done. And of course, my professor thought I was doomed, since he had all the power.
I kept applying for jobs, and miraculously landed one with a nuclear energy services company in Connecticut, that needed a person with a Mechanical Engineering degree with specialization in stress analysis, specifically Finite Element Techniques. I had taken 3 full quarters of Finite Element Techniques and was well versed in it. I was their preferred candidate, since they couldn’t find one that had both skills under the belt. They needed me immediately to work on a project at a nuclear power plant.
I was at my wit’s end. I now had a job offer, that paid me well, but could not take it because of my visa situation. Back then, there was no internet and no Google Search at one’s fingertips. But I was not willing to give up.
So, I went through the phone book and one by one called immigration attorneys. There was one that always advertised in the campus newspaper, but he was one of those “mediocre” ones that said he couldn’t help. ( Some of my peers used him and he moved at snail’s pace was the word on the streets ).
Finally, I found one in Blue Ash, a ritzy suburb of Cincinnati. As before with several immigration attorneys, I explained my situation. Mind you this was over three decades ago, but things don’t change that much. Technologies may change, but people seldom do. The workaholics will remain so and will the lazy, mediocre ones.
I thought I had found the best immigration attorney. He told me he would take care of my situation immediately and assured me of success. I asked him how? And he said, that is why he is the most expensive lawyer in that area. I said: “Fine. Let’s go”. I paid him his first payment of $600, with the rest to follow later.
He went to work. He took my job offer letter and based upon my credentials of Mechanical Engineering and my Finite Element Skills, all of which were true and verifiable by documentation, he requested that the Immigration and Naturalization Service grant me an H-1 visa, which was unheard of by the general public back in those days. The INS felt that this was a genuine case and did grant me the H-1 visa, even prior to my Master’s graduation.
He was very creative. No mediocrity there. He knew the laws; he understood the client’s situation; he knew the employer’s situation; and he used the best of his abilities to solve the problem at hand. He broke no laws; he did nothing outside the book. But he didn’t want to be just a forms filler. He was a top notch immigration attorney who looked for the deeper options that the law afforded.
And I was at work within 3 weeks ! And believe it or not, my professor had a change of heart and let me graduate with “A” grades ! My peers thought I was a hero for succeeding finally.
Repeat Situation:
Later on, in the course of my work life, my employer was happy with the work I performed for him and he wanted to sponsor me for Permanent Residence, so I could continue to work for them.
I thanked him for it, but insisted that I will choose and pay for my own attorney. I chose the best immigration attorney in Connecticut at that time and he handled my process without any hiccups in record time!
That’s what I mean by top notch. Several of my friends who worked with so-so ones were waiting and waiting and were wondering how I did it so soon. My reply to them was “Don’t ask me. I just hired the best!”
Nowadays, immigration law has become more complex and cases can get to be very complicated. But smart attorneys are still around; they are scarce but not extinct. It takes some digging around to find the best. One cannot perform a Google search once and expect to solve the issue. It will take multiple searches, talking to people, finding out successes and failures, and finally talking to multiple firms to zero in on the winner.
Look at it as a journey; whether you are an individual or an organization. And skilled smart candidates are equally scarce; but not extinct.
Your Story:
So what is your story? Share your journey through the process of immigration if you are an individual. If you are an immigration attorney, share with the world what exciting things your firm has done in this regard with clients, both individual and corporate. And you can do this through short two minute bite sized audio clips at firstblastit.com.
What’s the point holding on to it within yourself? By sharing, some other aspiring immigrant or company could benefit. And to top it off, you don’t have to sit and write for hours and neither does the audience need to sit in front of a laptop or stare at a mobile device putting their other activities on hold.
They listen on the go!
You can also put in your links, website links, social media links, email address, etc, so people who want to conduct business with you can contact you.
I know I have some clips at firstblastit.com. That’s my contribution to society!
Feel free to link to this blog post or to publish on your site as long as the links in this article are kept live.