Immigration

Overview

Throughout our 75-year history, McConnell Valdés has proudly championed and supported business development in Puerto Rico, recognizing that business immigration is key to the expansion of the island’s business community. Today, our widely respected business immigration team helps new and existing businesses and individual entrepreneurs obtain the visas they need to establish a presence in Puerto Rico as well as pursue their business and professional activities both in Puerto Rico and in the United States.

In recent years, we have helped clients take advantage of new and expanded opportunities for business immigration to the United States resulting from a renewed commitment by the U.S. government to facilitate foreign investment and international commerce with the potential to create new jobs in the U.S.

These initiatives include the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) 2011 policy, operational, and outreach efforts aimed at stimulating the economy by attracting foreign businesses and entrepreneurs who can create jobs, form startup companies, and invest capital in areas of high unemployment. The USCIS “Entrepreneurs in Residence” program was also created in 2011 to help review, streamline and enhance the adjudication process of business-immigration visa categories in order to ease and expedite the approval of eligible petitions for investors and entrepreneurs.

These and other developments have created a favorable climate for foreign entrepreneurs and companies to both nurture emerging businesses in Puerto Rico and develop existing ones with an influx of foreign capital and talent. We advise these clients on the various visa categories that can help them succeed in moving forward with the creation and development of businesses in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

The McConnell Valdés Immigration team is comprised of seasoned and knowledgeable attorneys, one of which is ranked among Puerto Rico’s leading attorneys by Chambers and Partners in both its Global and Latin American Guides and who was also included in The Best Lawyers in Puerto Rico 2016. Our team works in tandem with firm colleagues in practice areas that include Labor & Employment, Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions, Real Estate, International & Cross-Border Transactions, and Tax to provide each client with personalized and practical solutions.

What We Do

McConnell Valdés Immigration lawyers regularly advise clients wishing to expand their businesses in the U.S. and Puerto Rico on appropriate visa categories, such as the:

• L-1A visa for manager or executive and L-1B visa for specialized knowledge intra-company transferees.
• H-1B temporary visa for specialty occupation workers and professionals. 
• E-1 Treaty Trader visa and E-2 Treaty Investor visa for foreign nationals of countries with U.S. treaties of commerce and navigation.
• EB-2 permanent residence visa for foreign nationals with exceptional abilities in the sciences, arts, or business.
• EB-5 permanent residence visa for foreign nationals who invest $1 million in a U.S./P.R. commercial enterprise or $500 thousand in a U.S. targeted employment area.

We provide consultations and handle all aspects related to the filing of USCIS visa petitions on behalf of foreign companies and their employees, individual foreign entrepreneurs, business people and their accompanying family members.

We also regularly prepare all related applications for extensions of stay in the U.S., and changes and adjustments of U.S. visa immigration status. 

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