Getting Things Done for Today’s Global Business Needs

McNair’s lawyers take a global focus to help employers secure the talent of highly skilled foreign nationals, including multinational executives and managers, engineers, scientists, researchers, professors, physicians and nurses. We have a dual focus in all our immigration work. If you are an employer, we know that you may be unfamiliar with complex and constantly changing immigration laws, and will work closely with you to achieve your overall business objectives as we craft solutions to help you secure the skilled personnel you need. And if you are an employee who undertakes a job assignment in a new country, we are available around the clock to provide you and your family with truly personal service to provide whatever immigration or other assistance you need.

Handling the Complexity

We help clients secure temporary nonimmigrant visas: H1B and TN visas for professionals, L visas for intra-company transferees, E1/E2 visas for treaty traders/investors, and O and P visas for aliens of extraordinary ability. In addition to obtaining nonimmigrant visas, we also facilitate the nonimmigrant renewal process both with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and foreign consulates abroad. Finally, our lawyers prepare amendments that may be necessary when a temporary foreign employee is promoted, transferred or terminates his or her employment.

McNair advises each employer on the best visa to pursue in a given situation, and creates the appropriate processing strategy, including alternative nonimmigrant visas. We understand the unique needs of multinational employers in industries such as manufacturing, technology, health care, food service, construction and consulting. Our overall administration process is a fully integrated blend of direct communication, hands-on attention to detail and sophisticated use of technology. Above all, whether you are an employer or employee, we provide personal service and reliable guidance no matter how complex the issue.

How we Get Things Done
Accessibility and personal service are hallmarks of McNair’s immigration work, even when matters involve unusual challenges. In one instance, we represented a European client whose visa was found to have expired when he was attempting to leave the country and fly to the U.S. after completing a work assignment in China. The 12-hour time difference between Beijing and South Carolina made communication and negotiation with government authorities quite difficult, but we had access to language translation services that helped bridge the gap. Ultimately we devised a solution that allowed our client to fly from China to Canada, where the proper immigration authorities allowed U.S. entry.

We also secure immigrant visas, also known as “green cards,” so that companies can permanently employ foreign employees. In most instances, the process requires the employer to obtain labor certification from the Department of Labor (“DOL”) as an initial step in the permanent residency process. The DOL overhauled its system recently and is continuously changing their policies and standards, resulting in audits. Our attorneys are adept at responding to audits and resolving problem cases. In addition, we utilize other immigrant visa categories which may not require labor certification, such as extraordinary ability, multinational managers, outstanding researchers, national interest waivers, pre-certified cases, exceptional ability aliens, and EB-5 investors.

Providing Complete Representation

We provide expedited and comprehensive services at every stage of the immigration and naturalization process. This includes handling applications and petitions before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of State, and processing visas through the State Department and U.S. consulates. While our practice focuses on business clients, we also provide family-based immigration services for relatives of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. McNair lawyers handle all types of visas, both immigrant and non-immigrant, as well naturalization and citizenship, and immigration compliance. And we can represent you no matter where you are – throughout the U.S., or around the world.

How we Get Things Done
When employers bring foreign nationals to the U.S. for work assignments, they rely on McNair for the personal help needed if family members also come to this country. We have helped spouses and children with everything from obtaining proper documentation for entry to the U.S., to securing school admission, Social Security identification and driver’s licenses for family members once they are in this country.

Offering Full Service

Our full-service immigration law approach is distinctly different from boutique firms whose sole focus is obtaining an approval notice from the CIS. Our immigration lawyers draw on McNair’s full capabilities in corporate, employment and tax law to resolve any business issues that arise in the immigration process. We provide comprehensive follow-up on visas, counsel non-citizen employees on point-of-entry documentation and other issues, prepare them for consular interviews and provide assistance with outbound immigration, including consultation with offshore local counsel to secure U.S. visas for travel to other countries.

Our firsthand knowledge and sensitivity to other cultures, including access to foreign language capabilities, help make each person we deal with as comfortable as possible throughout an immigration process that can be complicated and intimidating. You can be confident, as employee or employer, that we are accessible, that we respond to you personally, and that we will answer all your questions during and after the formal immigration process.

How we Get Things Done
Often our immigration clients have personal needs that extend beyond their own visa and work permit concerns. One such client was a businessman originally from India who was on assignment in that country. The week he was to return to the U.S. he contacted McNair with a problem: through a prearranged marriage he now had a new wife, with no provision for her to enter the U.S. We worked quickly to get entry approval for the wife, and the couple was able to come to the U.S. on schedule.

Handling Employment Compliance

If you are an employer, you might think that employment eligibility verification for your employees is a simple matter of completing the Form I-9 form. We know from experience that the process is far more complex than that. We can ensure that you fulfill your complete responsibilities to verify both an employee’s identity and eligibility without violating the various relevant laws governing discrimination.

Much of what we do involves counseling business personnel and human resource departments on managing their I-9 records to prevent compliance problems (such as separating immigration records from personnel files), especially in industries that are frequently targeted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE) for random audits. We also help defend businesses facing ICE investigations. McNair’s capabilities in both immigration and employment law help employers meet their compliance responsibilities without exposing them to discrimination claims.

How we Get Things Done
Employers aren’t the only clients that McNair advises on complex issues of immigration and employment. As more municipalities and county governments enact legislation regarding the employment of illegal immigrants, we increasingly are advising these public clients on appropriate language for ordinances to ensure that they are constitutional.