L&E Lens on Business Immigration: Strategies and Compliance for Recruitment, Retention and Termination

Kimberly N. Grant is Senior Counsel in the Labor and Employment practice, in the New York office of Epstein Becker Green. She has served clients in the consumer products, specialty packaging, hospitality, pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical, medical device, specialty chemicals, content marketing, aviation, and confectionery industries, among others.

Ms. Grant:

• Provides strategic corporate immigration counsel to clients ranging from small and medium-sized organizations to Fortune 500 companies
• Prepares and submits petitions (including H-1B, L-1, O-1, J-1, H-3, TN, and E-3 petitions) and employment-based permanent residence cases to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), U.S. Department of Labor, and other government agencies
• Has extensive experience with employment-based temporary and permanent visa categories (including the preparation of PERM labor certification applications, multinational manager and executive petitions, outstanding researcher petitions, national interest waiver petitions, and petitions for scientists, engineers, and business professionals of extraordinary ability categories) and applications for naturalization and expedited 319(b) naturalization
• Advises companies on Form I-9 compliance

Prior to joining Epstein Becker Green, Ms. Grant was an attorney at a corporate immigration law firm, where she focused on providing advice to human resources personnel, in-house counsel, and foreign national employees in the area of U.S. immigration law. Previously, she clerked in the Immigration Unit of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where she researched and drafted bench memoranda on immigration law issues.

Ms. Grant regularly lectures on U.S. immigration laws and compliance topics and provides pro bono services, which have included counseling natives of Haiti on applying for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and work authorization following the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.

In 2014, Ms. Grant was named to the New Jersey Rising Stars list in the area of Immigration. While at law school, Ms. Grant received the Dr. Samuel Belkin Award for exceptional contribution to the growth and development of Cardozo Law School. She also was the James Boskey Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Writing Competition Winner, which was presented by the American Bar Association’s Section of Dispute Resolution.

Representative Experience

• Served as an Alternate Responsible Officer (ARO) of the J-1 exchange visitor program for a multinational organization in the pharmaceutical industry
• Assists prominent professionals, including vice presidents, scientists, researchers, and engineers with obtaining “extraordinary ability” and “outstanding researcher” classifications based on demonstrated international expertise and prominence in their fields
• Guided clients on the immigration aspects of acquisitions and corporate restructuring, as well as Form I-9 employer compliance and strategic integration of new case matters following mergers and acquisitions
• Successfully appealed an I-140 multinational manager petition to the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) within the USCIS, demonstrating that the client company was a “successor in interest” and, therefore, that a qualifying relationship existed between the overseas and U.S. legal entities
• Attended adjustment of status, immigrant visa petition, and naturalization interviews with clients at USCIS offices in numerous states
• Provided training sessions on U.S. immigration laws and compliance, Form I-9 employment verification compliance, and global mobility trends to numerous Fortune 500 companies

Jennifer Taler is an Associate in the Immigration Law Group, in the New York office of Epstein Becker Green. She represents large multinational clients and their employees across a wide range of immigration matters.

Ms. Taler’s experience includes:

Advising employers on business-related immigration matters involving the recruitment, hiring, transfer, and retention of foreign nationals in the United States

Securing employment-based nonimmigrant and immigrant visas for employees of large multinational corporations

Advising on immigration options and strategies for front, middle, and back-office positions based on a client’s long- and short-term global mobility needs

Counseling clients on all aspects of the permanent residency process

Prior to joining Epstein Becker Green, Ms. Taler was an associate in the Immigration Practice Group of a commercial law firm in New York City.

While attending law school, Ms. Taler was an Associate Editor of the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal and a two-time national competitor for Fordham’s Moot Court team. She also served as a legal intern in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn, New York; a judicial extern for Judge Mary Catherine Cuff of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, in West Long Branch, New Jersey; and a Summer Law Intern in the Law Department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Nancy L. Gunzenhauser is an Associate in the Labor and Employment practice, in the New York office of Epstein Becker Green.

Ms. Gunzenhauser:

• Counsels clients on compliance with EEO laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, worker classification issues, and other federal, state, and local statutes governing the workplace
• Advises employers in all facets of the employment relationship, from pre-employment considerations and hiring to terminations and post-employment restrictions
• Prepares employment, consulting, and separation agreements
• Audits employers’ employment policies, procedures, and handbooks to ensure compliance with applicable laws and best practices
• Conducts workplace training seminars for employees, managers, and human resources personnel
• Assists in defending clients in labor and employment-related litigation in a broad array of matters, such as discrimination, harassment, retaliation, breach of contract, and wage and hour disputes
• Prior to joining Epstein Becker Green, Ms. Gunzenhauser worked as an intern in the Law Department of the Kings County Supreme Court; the Employment Law Department of one the world's largest professional services, risk management, and insurance brokerage firms; and the Social Security Administration, among other positions.

While at law school, Ms. Gunzenhauser received the CALI "Excellence for the Future Award" in Privacy in the Workplace.