Chandler Law Firm LLC

CHANDLER LAW FIRM, LLC, DENVER, COLORADO - A premier immigration and nationality law firm representing companies and individuals with strength, compassion and zeal.

The firm, located in downtown Denver, concentrates its practice on business-related and family immigration matters. These matters typically involve representing clients in the process of obtaining permanent residency or "green cards" and various types of nonimmigrant visas.

Firm personnel are familiar with law and regulations relating to both immigrant (persons moving permanently to the United States) and nonimmigrant (persons coming temporarily to the United States) procedures.  The process of becoming a lawful permanent resident (“green card holder”) may require getting a labor certification using the relatively new PERM process.  Many groups, however, are exempt from labor certification, including investors, persons of extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers and multi-national executives and managers.  Work authorization and travel permission are important to our clients, and we assist with securing those benefits for our clients pursuing permanent residency.

There are nearly as many nonimmigrant visas as there are letters in the alphabet.  We have worked successfully with almost all of them, including B visitors, F, M, and J students and exchange visitors, H-1Bs, H-2Bs, H-3s, K fiancés, L intra-company transferees, O persons of extraordinary ability, P performers, R religious workers and Q cultural visas.  We are also called upon for assistance with TNs, as provided for by the North American Trade Agreement.

Family-related immigration issues, involving non-U.S. citizens brought into a family unit, as in a marriage or an adoption, are also handled by our firm, as is naturalization.  We see many clients from the time they enter as visitors until, years later, they are sworn-in as naturalized United States citizens.

The firm has worked with persons and employees from all over the world, thereby developing expertise and knowledge specific to persons from certain countries, including Canadians and Mexicans, who may be eligible for "TN" status pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Whether a client is overseas and considering alternative methods of coming to the United States for the first time or has lived as a lawful permanent resident in the United States for years and is considering the possibility of naturalization, Chandler Law Firm, LLC can help. We enjoy the process of getting to know our clients, developing an immigration plan for them and then working to ensure that the plan becomes a reality.

NEWS

H-1B FILINGS SOAR

USCIS announced April 5, 2012 that it has received over 22,000 H-1B petitions since it started accepting H-1B petitions on April 1, 2012 for the 2013 fiscal year. That is nearly double the number of H-1B petitions filed by this time last year. Those employers who may be interested in hiring H-1B workers should consider filing their H-1B petitions sooner rather than later, since the annual cap of 65,000 will probably be reached much earlier this year than in previous years.


DEPARTMENT OF STATE VISA PROCESSING FEES TO CHANGE APRIL 13, 2012

The visa processing fees collected by the U.S. Department of State will change on April 13, 2012. Most fees for the processing of nonimmigrant visas will increase, but fees for processing fiancé and treaty trader/investor visas will decrease. Also decreasing significantly are fees associated with processing immigrant visas.


I-9 COMPLIANCE ACTION AGAINST ROSS STORES, INC. SETTLED

Requesting specific and excessive documentation during the I-9 completion process is one of the most common errors made by employers and is a violation of anti-discrimination provisions of the law. The United States Department of Justice recently reached a settlement agreement with Ross Stores, Inc., which allegedly had 1) engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on citizenship status; and 2) discriminated against a work-authorized individual when it refused to honor a valid work authorization document (EAD) for I-9 purposes and required production of a green card.

Under the settlement agreement, Ross Stores agreed to reinstate the complaining party and pay $6348 in back pay plus interest and to pay $10,825 in civil penalties. The company also agreed to comply with the law, to train its human resources personnel about employers' responsibilities to avoid discrimination in the I-9 completion process and to be subject to reporting and compliance monitoring requirements.