Immigration Law Professionals
The Capitol Immigration Law Group PLLC is a boutique law firm based in Washington, DC specializing exclusively in U.S. immigration and nationality law. We serve corporate and individual clients throughout the U.S. and internationally. We are proud to be able to offer practical, prompt and professional immigration and employment compliance legal advice to our clients.
Because of our focus on business immigration law, we are able to handle competently all of our individual and corporate clients’ needs in this area. Our ability to provide quality and practical legal advice lies not only in our devotion and competency in immigration law, but also in our efforts to understand our clients’ business and to act as immigration-related business advisors.
We take great pride in the quality of our work, in our professionalism and in our expertise. We provide regular client updates on important developments in immigration and compliance law and are often invited speakers to relevant business community and other labor and immigration events.
We offer free and confidential initial evaluations and we offer competitive flat fee rates for our services. Our goal is to provide stability to our clients’ immigration and compliance needs by ensuring a combination of high level of service and predictable and transparent billing arrangements.
Our typical clients are small and mid-size companies doing business in a variety of sectors, non-profit organizations, universities and foreign investors. We consider our size an asset allowing us to provide loyal, intimate and personal legal services. In addition to corporate clients, we also represent foreign nationals from over 40 countries on individual employment-related immigration matters.
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News and Recent Articles
Warnings for TCN Visa Applications in Canada
Generally, the U.S. Department of State likes to process visas at the consulate located at the applicant’s home country. Howevre, U.S. consulates in Mexico and Canada have the practice of allowing third-country nationals (TCN) to apply for a U.S. visa stamp in addition to their home country. However, recent AILA interactions with the Department of State Canadian missions have provided some cautionary notes.
First, U.S. consular posts in Canada are increasingly refusing to issue visas under INA 221(g) in cases where the H-1B visa applicant has a foreign (non-U.S.) degree and who does not have a previous H-1B stamp issued […]
AAO Decision on Substituted Labor Certifications
In a decision dated as of March 26, 2010, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) has spelled out what we think is an an important policy change affecting employment-based permanent residency applicants who are beneficiaries of a labor certification either as a substitute or as the initial beneficiary of a subsequently-substituted labor certification.
Brief Background on Labor Certification Substitutions
Until July 16, 2007, relevant DOL and USCIS rules permitted an employer to “substitute” the beneficiary of an already approved labor certification. As a result, in a number of labor certifications, approved before July 16, 2007, there may be more than one beneficiaries, […]
Brief Trips to the U.S. and Foreign Residency for New 6-year H-1B Term
As many of our clients and readers know, the H-1B program allows stay in the U.S. on H or L status of up to six years. Time spent abroad during this period may be “recaptured” and added towards the six years of H-1B time.
However, many foreign nationals who are not eligible to extend their H-1B term past the 6th year based on pending PERM labor certification or approved I-140 immigrant petition are limited from being employed in the U.S. pursuant to H-1B status unless they spent at least one continuous year abroad before they are counted under the H-1B cap […]
AILA Letter to USCIS on Employer-Employee Relationship Memo
We have written extensively over the past two months on the January 8, 2010 Neufeld Memorandum (the “Neufeld Memo”) changing the H-1B adjudication standards for H-1B employers engaged in 3rd party placement or employee-owners. We have also written about AILA’s efforts to rescind the Neufeld Memo.
In a letter dated March 19, 2010 addressed to the USCIS Director, AILA puts forward a renewed call for rescission of the Neufeld Memorandum by explaining the unintended and burdensome consequences of the Neufeld Memo. The AILA letter discusses the economic impact of the Neufeld Memo on a number of H-1B petitioners. […]