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
AILA Seeks Rescission of the January 8, 2010 Neufeld Memorandum
The Neufeld Memorandum of January 8, 2010, has generated a substantial amount of discussion with its newly-proposed standard for “employer-employee” relationship applied to third-party H-1B employee placements, which are very common for consulting companies. Our office has handled many consultations and inquiries relating to the Neufeld Memorandum and what it means for the thousands of H-1B employees currently on H-1B visa and for their employers.
AILA Seeks Rescission of the Neufeld Memorandum
Our office has revised its standard H-1B preparation guidelines for third-party worksite H-1B petitions to comply, to the extent possible, with the new requirements imposed by the Neufeld Memorandum. […]
USCIS Begins ESTA Enforcement
About the Electronic System for Travel Authorization
ESTA is an electronic travel authorization that all citizens of VWP countries must obtain prior to boarding a carrier to travel by air or sea to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (WVP). ESTA has been mandatory since Jan. 12, 2009 for all nationals of VWP countries traveling to the U.S under the VWP. The requirement does not affect U.S. citizens returning from overseas or citizens of VWP countries traveling on a valid U.S. visa.
ESTA applications may be submitted at any time prior to travel, and once approved, generally will be valid […]
H-1B Filing Fees – Who Can Pay What?
Our office received many inquiries by both H-1B sponsor companies and employees about what kind of fee payment arrangement is permissible under the H-1B regulations.
Background of H-1B Filing Fees
There are several H-1B filing fees, which are applied differently depending on the employer (private employer v. university or non-profit research entity) and on the type of petition (new H-1B, first extension or second/subsequent extension). We are happy to guide on the applicability of these fees.
Regardless of their applicability, the H-1B filing fees are:
- H-1B filing fee – $320;
- Fraud prevention fee – $500;
- ACWIA fee – $750 (for employer with 25 or less employees) […]
USCIS Guidance on H-1B for Contractors and Third-party Worksites
In a January 8, 2010, Memorandum, Donald Neufeld, the Associate Director for Service Center Operations, provides some guidance on the standards for H-1B petitions filed by independent contractors, self-employed beneficiaries, and beneficiaries working at third-party worksites.
Focus on Employer-Employee Relationship
The guidance is primarily concerned with the employer-employee relationship. Pursuant to the H-1B regulations, an employer who seeks to sponsor a temporary worker in an H-1B specialty occupation is required to establish such employer-employee relationship. USCIS deems that such relationship is established when the employer has the right to control the means and manner in which the work is performed.
Some of […]