Immigration

Miller Canfield’s immigration team understands the accelerating pace of global business and its impact on companies large and small in today’s markets. Clients need legal counsel that keeps pace with their markets and their specialized labor needs. Legal counsel that can clarify the process of obtaining and moving needed personnel, between facilities or around the world.  That’s Miller Canfield.  We consistently provide comprehensive U.S. and outbound immigration services and solutions that serve clients’ business objectives.

Scope of Services.  We assist your business in diverse immigration matters including obtaining and/or extending all types of nonimmigrant and immigrant visas for individuals, such as:

• H-1B status for professionals
• L-1A/L-1B status for intra-company transferees
• E-1/E-2 status for treaty investors and treaty traders
• TN status for Canadian & Mexican citizens
• B-1/B-2 status for business visitors and tourists
• P status for athletes and entertainers
• O-1 status for individuals with extraordinary ability
• Employment-based permanent resident status (“Green Cards”)
• U.S. citizenship for qualified individuals
• Temporary work permits in Canada 
• Landed immigrant status in Canada 
• Global (“outbound”) immigration

We provide companies with immigration policy guidance and strategic planning advice.  Miller Canfield’s immigration team reviews your company’s immigration needs and provides the specific options that may be available to the company and to the employee. Most services are completed on a flat legal fee basis so that our clients are able to more easily budget the cost of these services accordingly.

As an additional client service, Miller Canfield conducts training for legal departments, human resources and management personnel.  Our “Immigration Boot Camp” provides an overview of visa categories, addresses compliance issues and covers basic document recognition.  Not only do participants achieve a greater understanding of the immigration process, clients subsequently deal with immigration issues more efficiently and competently. 

Worksite Enforcement & Immigration Corporate Compliance.  In the current era of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and audits, our immigration team protects our clients from the risks and liability of not being in compliance with the regulations of both the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the US Department of Labor (DOL).  These services include:

• Conducting in-house immigration audits
• I-9 completion, compliance and training
• Labor Condition Application (LCA)
• File completion, compliance and training
• Maintenance of PERM recruitment files
• Development of immigration-related corporate compliance manuals

We advise our clients that an immigration audit is particularly valuable if your company is purchasing, merging with, or being purchased by another company, or being audited by a governmental agency.  All of these scenarios could have severe and costly negative consequences for the employer and its foreign national employees.  By conducting an in-house audit, the company ensures that it is in full compliance with the applicable government regulations, eliminating a potential roadblock to the transaction. 

Continuous Access to Updated Status Reports.  Miller Canfield provides its clients with 24hour/7days a week internet access to immigration case status and useful general information.  Employers are able to customize their own reports and view the status of each employee, including general information about the employee, such as visa status and expiration, as well as specific case history. 

For further information.  If you would like additional information about our immigration practice, or if you would like to speak with someone in our immigration practice, please contact: Karen A. Phillippi Immigration Services Business Manager at 734/668-8990 or phillippi@millercanfield.com