It is rare to discuss happiness and the US immigration process together, but those are today’s topics.
Let’s focus on the most common immigration case in the employment setting: the H-1. Most employers (below a certain size) retain attorneys to “represent the company”. They then leave the H-4 dependents to fend for themselves.
As a basic matter of ethics, this leaves the “company’s attorney” in a quandary since very good legal arguments can be made regarding that attorney’s ethical responsibilities to represent the dependents as well as the principal H-1 employee. See, Navigating the Fundamentals of Immigration Law 29 (2007-2008 ed.) (AILA).
But there is a more compelling reason the “company’s attorney” should represent the dependents: it alleviates the anxiety and often panic that befalls the H-1 employee and her dependents when the company and “its” attorney refuse to assist.
When companies compensate employees who relocate, they do not pay for the employee only and leave the family members on their own. Or at least that is not the common approach. Why, then, do we leave the family out of the immigration process?
Since our firm’s founding in 1978, dependents have been included in every nonimmigrant case we handle, including of course, H-1s. There is no increase in the attorney’s fee. This was the standard model for decades in most immigration firms until recently. The unanswered question is why it changed for newer attorneys and law firms.
I cannot imagine representing an H-1 foreign national without also addressing the spouse and children. Many times, there are issues with the H-1 employee’s family that impact the H-1 process and vice versa. Even if that is not true, the family is treated as part of the employment and receives the “company’s attorney’s” counsel and assistance as their own.
This unfortunate situation has become so common that H-1 employees just accept it as part of the legal landscape. But the opposite is also true: H-1 foreign nationals and their families are impressed and relieved when they find out everyone will be taken care of at the same time by the attorney who knows the most about their case. And the company can provide, at no additional cost, the feeling of inclusion and safety which makes a positive and lasting impression.
That is at least one contribution to the well-being and happiness of some of your most valuable assets.
