Level: Beginner
With the future of DACA in jeopardy and the uncertainty of TPS for certain countries, many community members who fear losing their employment authorization and those who never had a work permit need information and screening for other immigration options. This webinar will focus on the process to obtain lawful permanent residence through employer sponsorship. We will cover the threshold questions to ask a client in screening for possible eligibility; background on different kinds of nonimmigrant visas; requirements, numerical limits, and red flags for employment-based visas; requirements for and the impact of advance parole; and an overview of the labor certification, immigrant visa petition, and adjustment of status processes.
Presenters
Krsna Avila - Staff Attorney, ILRC
Krsna is based in San Francisco, California, and focuses on immigration enforcement issues, including state and local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration agencies in unlawfully deporting immigrants, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals advocacy.
Krsna joins the ILRC with a wealth of personal and professional immigration experience. Having immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was only four months old, Krsna grew up as an undocumented immigrant. Prior to law school, Krsna worked closely with the ILRC to establish a legal services program at Educators for Fair Consideration. As their Legal Services Manager, Krsna provided legal support to undocumented youth throughout the country.
Directly feeling the effects of our unjust immigration system, Krsna quickly became interested in attending law school in order to understand the legal system from a different lens.
While in law school, Krsna worked at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington D.C. and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California where he supported litigation regarding free speech and racial discrimination issues. He also participated in the Asylum and Convention Against Torture Appellate Clinic, where he helped represent a client before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Krsna also volunteered with the European Council on Refugees and was an editorial member for the Cornell Legal Information Institute U.S. Supreme Court Bulletin.
Krsna earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis, and his law degree from Cornell Law School where he received the 2017 Freeman Award for Civil-Human Rights for his commitment to civil rights and public service.
Lisa Spiegel - Partner, Duane Morris, LLP
Lisa Spiegel is the head of the Immigration Practice Group at Duane Morris, LLP. Ms. Spiegel practices in the areas of immigration and nationality law, concentrating on issues related to the employment of foreign nationals. She has been designated as a certified specialist in immigration and nationality law by the State Bar of California and is a past chair of the Northern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Ms. Spiegel has served on numerous committees for AILA, including the Association's National Committee on Business and the AILA-USCIS Administrative Appeals Office Liaison Committee, as liaison to the New York and San Francisco District Offices of the Immigration & Naturalization Service and as national liaison with the California Service Center for many years. In addition, Ms. Spiegel is president of the Board of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. She is admitted to practice in New York and California. Ms. Spiegel served as editor of a chapter of The Immigration and Nationality Law Treatise, published by Matthew Bender, and authored a chapter of Advising California Employers, a CEB publication. She has published articles on immigration law issues and lectures frequently for various bar associations and conferences. Ms. Spiegel is a 1985 graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University and a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany.