How to Choose an Immigration Attorney Choosing an Immigration Law Firm and Immigration Attorney May Law Group, LLC, strives for excellence in all aspects of our immigration law practice. When choosing an immigration law firm, it is important to ask questions and look for the following qualities:  Exclusive immigration law expertise. Does the law firm practice immigration law exclusively or does it practice other areas of law in addition to immigration law? At May Law Group, we practice only immigration law. Immigration law is an extremely complex area of the law. By limiting our practice to immigration law, May Law Group is able to concentrate on what it does and knows best: United States immigration law. Attorneys licensed in Pennsylvania. May Law Group’s attorneys are licensed in the State of Pennsylvania and all have passed the Pennsylvania Bar Examination. Our attorneys have all attended Tier One Law Schools and have excellent credentials. May Law Group does not employ attorneys who have failed the Pennsylvania Bar Exam. When selecting an immigration attorney ask where the attorney is licensed to practice law. If the answer is in another state, ask the attorney if he or she has failed the Pennsylvania Bar Examination. If the answer to this question is yes, you may find this to be an important factor in your choice of attorney. Immigration law is a federal practice, but we strongly believe that no one should use this fact to practice law in a state in which they cannot pass the bar examination. Approval Rate. May Law Group has an exceptionally high rate of approvals for some of the most difficult petitions in immigration law. The majority of our petitions have approval rates of 100%. Even for some very difficult petitions, our approval rate is close to 100%. While past approval rates cannot predict future results due to variations in the fact patterns of cases, May Law Group strives to continue its outstanding record of approvals for immigration petitions. In fact, May Law Group has had several petitions approved which have made new law as they are, to our knowledge, the only ones filed and approved for certain J waivers and extraordinary ability categories.  Accessible immigration attorney. Will you be able to contact your lawyer easily? May Law Group provides you with the cell phone number of the lawyer responsible for your case so you can contact your lawyer when you have an emergency. Our firm understands how important each immigration case is to our clients. That makes each case important to May Law Group and assures your case will receive individual attention.  Current immigration knowledge. Does the firm strive to update its knowledge of immigration law? We are committed to keeping abreast of all developments in immigration law, a constantly changing area of the law. May Law Group continually updates its knowledge of United States immigration law through publications, continuing legal education, and a network of contacts throughout the immigration community.  Experience with complex and difficult immigration cases. Is the law firm prepared to handle the unexpected turns that many immigration cases often can take? We specialize in difficult cases and frequently take over cases that individuals have filed on their own or cases that other attorneys have filed where adverse decisions have been rendered or other problems have arisen. Backup strategies are formulated to insure that, if necessary, all possibilities have been anticipated and a course of action selected.  Quality controls. Does the law firm have quality controls in place? Each case is important to our firm. An attorney performs the legal work on each case. No case is filed until it has been thoroughly reviewed and checked for accuracy. Our filings are hand delivered to Fed Ex each evening.  Clear and fair fees. Is the fee that is quoted for a law firm’s professional services all-inclusive or will additional charges be added as the case progresses? May Law Group quotes a fee for professional services that is all-inclusive. There are no additional charges for responses to requests for additional evidence, time spent at interviews, or telephone calls.  Dedication to excellence. Will the law firm you choose for your immigration work go the extra mile for your case? Many times the difference between an approval and a denial in immigration law is the effort that the attorney puts into the case. May Law Group is committed to achieving excellence in its practice of immigration law. Your case does matter to May Law Group and we will work evenings and weekends, do the extra research, and treat your case as if it were our own. Our clients become our friends and their cases matter to us. ...read more

A permanent labor certification, which is approved by the Department of Labor (DOL), allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently in the . It is necessary for most individuals, before the employer can submit an immigration petition to the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, that his or her employers obtain an approved labor certification request from the DOL's Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The DOL must certify to the USCIS that there are no qualified workers able, willing, qualified, and available to accept the job at the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment and employment of the alien will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed workers.  ETA Form 9089 applications have to be filed under at the correct . The DOL processesApplications for Permanent Employment Certification, ETA Form 9089. The date on which the labor certification application is filed is known as the priority date. After the labor certification application is approved by the DOL, it is submitted to the USCIS service center with an Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker.  Criteriafor: The employer must hire the foreign worker as a full-time employee. There must be a bona fide job opening which is available to workers. Job requirements must be what is customarily required for the occupation in the and not be tailored to the foreign worker's qualifications. The employer must document that the job opportunity has been and is being described without unduly restrictive job requirements, unless adequately documented as a requirement due to business necessity. The employer must pay at least the prevailing wage for the occupation in the area of intended employment. May Law Group, LLC, has filed many labor certification applications. May Law Group represents Fortune 500 companies, colleges, universities, medical centers, physician practices, hospitals, professional sports teams, and businesses in their applications. ...read more

 H-1B (Specialty Occupations) The H-1B visa category applies to foreign nationals employed in specialty occupations that involve theoretical and practical application of highly specialized knowledge and which require a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in work experience.  A college degree alone does not qualify a foreign national as a specialty worker; the job must require a degree related to the foreign national’s particular field and the college degree that the foreign national earned must be a normal requirement for comparable jobs in the industry and with the prospective employer. All of the H-1B visa petitions filed by May Law Group, LLC, have been approved.* May Law Group, LLC, represents colleges, universities, major medical centers, Fortune 500 companies, and businesses who are filing for H-1B visas. May Law Group’s H-1B visa petitions are meticulously prepared and of the highest quality. May Law Group offers corporate rates and is willing to provide competitive bids on high volume immigration petitions. However, the most important factor in selecting an immigration attorney or immigration law firm is reputation and quality of work.  An employer must file a labor condition application with the Department of Labor before the employer can apply for an H-1B visa with the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services.  The prospective employer must post a notice of filing the application in two conspicuous locations at the employment site for a period of at least ten business days.  If an employer meets the requirements for an extension, the H-1B visa holder is allowed a maximum six-year stay in the . A seventh year is available under certain circumstances. These circumstances are: a labor certification for the applicant has been pending for over one year or an I-140, Alien Worker Petition, has been approved, but per country limitations on visas do not permit the filing of an adjustment of status application. May Law Group has successfully filed for seventh year extensions of H-1B visas numerous times. Eligible H-1B time not initially granted or spent outside of the may also be recaptured by H-1B visa holders through the filing of a recapture petition. The H-1B cap for the fiscal year, which extends from October 1 of each year to October 1 of the following year, was met within two days of the opening of the filing period (April 1st of each year) in 2007. In the most recent filing period, a lottery was held to select which applications filed in those two days would receive H-1B visas. Unless there is congressional action to increase the cap on the number of H-1Bs available, applicants who miss the initial filing period prior to the cap being reached or are not selected in the anticipated H-1B lottery must wait until a new filing period. However, certain H-1B applications are cap exempt. These cap exempt H-1Bs include H-1Bs who work for universities or governmental nonprofit research organizations and their nonprofit affiliates. H-1B renewals are also cap exempt.  A foreign national who holds an H-1B visa can work for a new employer as soon as the new employer files a nonfrivolous application with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. An additional number of H-1B visas are available each year for those applicants who hold Master’s Degrees. H-1B visa applicants from and also have visas set aside for them in H-1B visa pool. *Past results cannot guarantee future results due to variations in the facts of each case. ...read more