Introduction
Elizabeth James is a paralegal with Nixon Peabody's Global Immigration team where she assists employers in securing temporary work authorization, Green Cards and U.S. Citizenship for foreign workers. She supports a variety of clients throughout a broad range of industries, including software development, health care, food and beverage, in addition to academic institutions. Elizabeth also prepares family-based petitions for individual clients of the firm.
My focus
My particular areas of focus include corporate and family-based immigration.
Our corporate immigration clients range from local think-tanks to a global medical technology company. Recently, I assisted a client (a supplier of specialty chemicals) in successfully navigating the PERM process, including an off-site worker audit, for an executive telecommuting position.
My family-based work recently involved securing Naturalization for a family of entrepreneurs involved in the supply and manufacturing of machinery, in addition to working on a pro bono Special Immigrant Juvenile petition.
Representative experience
- Obtained labor certification for roving employee serving in an executive capacity at a global provider of software solutions
- Secured continued L-1B specialized knowledge status for valuable sales employee of leading provider of industrial productivity solutions
- Provided comprehensive labor certification/green card guidelines to international beverage producer to reorganize the company’s permanent residence strategy
- Obtained U.S. Citizenship for executives with histories of extensive international travel
- Worked with business-intelligence company to obtain extension of L-1A status for the CEO of recently developed U.S. company
Looking ahead
As a member of the Global Immigration team, I seek to develop successful strategies to help clients obtain foreign talent, particularly on a permanent basis. With Department of Labor’s ever-changing PERM processes and procedures, it can be a daunting and often confusing task to sponsor a foreign-worker for permanent employment. I aim to make that process as transparent and seamless as possible for our corporate clients by keeping abreast of adjudicatory trends and hot-topic issues.
Education
Monmouth University, MSW
Rutgers University, B.A., Sociology, Minor: Anthropology, magna cum laude