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Marco Satala is an H-1B superstar. He filed 9,338 new visa applications in the fiscal year – roughly one year ago if he worked every hour of every day.
That made him one of the most prolific H-1B attorneys in the country. But it is not even close to the top producer of applications for the visa intended for highly skilled foreign workers. That is more than Satala.
Together, the top 100 lawyers filed 262,000 new H-1B visa applications, almost half of all the applications filed in the 2018 fiscal year, according to the data from the Department of Labor. JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. Cisco, Google and Qualcomm, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
"It takes a whole lot of people to make this happen," said Satala.
The labor department provides a window into the high-volume legal specialty of H-1B visa applications. Some 6,900 attorneys in offices filed by coast to coast filed 555,000 applications for companies hiring developers, data scientists, accountants and others. With a few exceptions, they are competing for the 85,000 H-1B visas awarded each year in a computerized, random-selection lottery that begins in April. Amending the rules and heightened scrutiny of H-1B visas from the Trump administration, attorneys who know the system are in high demand.
At Pearl Law Group, which is joined late last year, the entire application team gets matching t-shirts. He's a big fan of this year's shirt, his first.
"We have the Statue of Liberty with the poem that's written about it as a reminder of the end of the day, what we're trying to do," he said. "This is an office together like no other project."
The H-1B has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate and a target of the Trump Administration. Companies, including tech firms that have lobbied for more H-1B visas, say hiring highly skilled foreign workers is the only way they can meet a gap that would otherwise hamper growth. But critics say the visa is outsourcing firms and others as a way to hire cheaper foreign labor at the cost of American workers.
The most prolific H-1B lawyer was Toronto-based Melanie Bradshaw of EY Law, an international firm with ties to the Ernst and Young consulting firm. She filed 57,411 new worker labor department applications. That's about one application for every 9 minutes had she worked non-stop for a year.
Although each application is signed by just one attorney, teams of paralegals, specialists and other lawyers.
Lawyers start preparing applications in October. The application is simple, but they must also be compiled to a job description, a letter of support from the prospective employer, and even college transcripts, generating hundreds of pages of documents that have been printed and stuffed into envelopes. A typical application takes place from time to time, attorneys say. No attorney who was interviewed to discuss their fees.
Once an application is submitted, the labor department reviews it for completeness, then certifies it. The paperwork then moves to the Department of Homeland Security, which determines the position meets the high-skill requirements of an H-1B job.
Some applications are rejected. In other cases, companies abandon the process and never move ahead to Homeland Security for an actual visa. But every year, the number of visa applications, necessitating the lottery to determine who will get the precious documents.
Satala's applications for fiscal 2018 were filed when it was with Fragomen, whose customers include Apple, Uber, San Diego-based Qualcomm Technologies, IT contractor HCL America and non-tech companies like Walmart and Bank of America.
Fragomen had more attorneys among the top 100 in H-1B applications last year than any other firm. Thirty-two of the 100 most prolific H-1B app attorneys worked for Fragmen at the time of the filings, according to an badysis by this news agency. And those 32 people filed for a fifth of all the new worker applications submitted in the last fiscal year.
Cynthia Lange, a managing partner at Fragomen, which has offices in San Francisco and Santa Clara, said the firm is one of the first and largest to specialize in corporate immigration law. Three months ago, when Lange started her career in the government's immigration services department, Fragomen was a big name.
"I remember the government people I worked with said that they read the Fragomen books to understand immigration better," she said.
When it comes to filing in a short time, software plays a key role. Berry, Appleman & Leiden, which has offices in San Francisco and Walnut Creek, had two lawyers in the top 100, putting it in the # 2 position behind Fragomen. Thousands of comments about 10,100 H-1B applications for Facebook, Amazon and Expedia customers.
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"Every good law firm in the United States," said David Berry, founding partner at the firm. However, he added, "the level of scrutiny necessitates individual and careful attention to every single box, and that's why we have a thousand employees and not just computers."
Berry estimated that while a simple application can take three hours of attorney time, a complicated one can take up to 40 hours. Some applications even require the law to be able to provide a highly qualified, well-credentialed worker, he said.
President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, which has a significant impact on the status of prospective employees and their qualifications, Berry said.
"Berry said," The whole process is used to reliably take a long time.
But the attorneys say they understand what's behind the additional scrutiny. It's their job to make sure customers follow the rules, and are honest and consistent in their applications. It is particularly important to recent lawsuits and federal actions against companies.
Very occasionally, a client company or prospective customer firm will ask a question like, "What do I need to say to get the visa?" Berry said. "My answer 100 percent of the time is," Let's start with the truth. "Berry said," We would tell them, 'You should not be engaging in this process. We will not help you, and we will not recommend anybody who will.
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