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Linnea C. Porter focuses her practice on business immigration matters, including representing domestic and multinational employers before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of State. Linnea represents and advises employers in virtually all areas of business immigration, including nonimmigrant visa categories (B, E, F, H, J, L, O, TN), permanent residence (PERM, Extraordinary Ability/Outstanding Researchers, Multinational Managers and National Interest Waivers), naturalization, and DACA. She has experience counseling a variety of companies from start-ups to multinational organizations in a wide range of industries, including fashion, financial services, IT, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, and alternative energy, on U.S. business immigration, compliance and enforcement actions, and global immigration.

Linnea also assists multinational employers with global mobility matters. Further, Linnea advises employers with I-9 compliance by providing on onsite training, internal audits and reviews, as well as deploying best practices to minimize exposure and liabilities in the event of government investigations.

On Jan. 9, 2026, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will publish a final rule increasing USCIS fees for premium processing.

Premium processing provides expedited processing for certain case types for an additional government filing fee.

In the announcement, USCIS stated that the premium process fee increase…

This week USCIS announced that in a continued effort to upgrade the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, states may now use SAVE to verify the U.S. citizenship status of those voting in federal elections.

States may now use SAVE to verify voters’ citizenship status using the last four digits of the voter’s Social…

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has published the first visa bulletin of the government’s new fiscal year (FY2025). The monthly bulletin published by the DOS summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers. USCIS has also announced that it will utilize the “Dates for Filing” chart published by DOS for both family-sponsored and employment-based preference categories…

On June 18, 2024, President Biden announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will implement new measures to ensure that U.S. citizens with noncitizen spouses and children can keep their families together. The announcement also includes measures to ease the visa process for U.S. college graduates, including Dreamers.

Process to Promote the Unity and

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Per U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) guidance issued Sept. 5, 2023, all Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification requirements remain in effect for areas affected by the 2023 Hawaii wildfires in Maui. Employers continue to be required to complete and retain – and reverify, as applicable – Form I-9 within the requisite period for…

Employers must act swiftly to complete in-person physical inspection of identity and employment verification documents for those remotely reviewed during the flexibility period. …
Continue Reading Form I-9: Sunsetting of COVID-19 Temporary Flexibilities and the Use of Authorized Representatives

On March 10, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) issued an announcement with comprehensive guidance on parole for international entrepreneurs. This program provides an opportunity for some foreign nationals who may not meet the more rigorous requirements of legacy U.S. investor visa programs.

USCIS will now use its discretionary parole authority to issue, on a…

Effective Nov. 21, 2022, USCIS announced that certain Afghan and Ukrainian beneficiaries paroled into the United States are employment authorized incident to parole. These beneficiaries do not need USCIS approval of work authorization to begin working in the United States. As USCIS processing times on employment authorization documents (EADs) for these beneficiaries have taken as…

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has published the December 2022 bulletin which reflects an increased demand across multiple categories. As warned in last month’s bulletin, the December bulletin implements a world-wide cut-off for the EB-2 category.

DOS also warns in its December bulletin that due to increased demand and number use in the EB-1…

On March 3, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the designation of Ukraine for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for an initial period of 18 months.

A country may be designated for TPS when conditions in that country reduce into one or more of the three statutory requirements for designation. Those requirements include:

  • Ongoing

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