Atessa Chehrazi’s Story

I have been practicing immigration law since I became an attorney and specialize in employment-based immigration law. I have been active in the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and have served as Chair of the Northern California Chapter of AILA (2008-2009), and member of the chapter board (2005-2010). I served as AILA NorCal’s chapter liaison to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) SF Field Office (2003-2005), and to the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) SF Field Office (2007-2008). On the national level, I have served on AILA’s USCIS HQ liaison committee from (2005-2006, 2007-2008), Administrative Appeals Office liaison committee (2005-2007), Field Operations liaison committee (2011-2012), AILA’s DOL liaison committee (2012-2013), and AILA’s CBP liaison committee (2017-present) . In addition, I have served on the AILA Business Immigration Advocacy, Issues, and Due Process & Civil Liberties Committees, and helped start up AILA’s “Middle East Interest Group.” I am a member of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG Honoree 2013 for “outstanding work in defense of immigrant’s rights”), and am a former board member of the Iranian American Bar Association Northern California Chapter (2011-2014). I have authored articles and presented at national and regional AILA conferences, as well as conferences of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisors (NAFSA).

Specialties: I specialize in H-1B, L-1 and O-1 nonimmigrant employment-based visas, J-1 exchange visitors, labor certifications, and immigrant visa petitions not requiring labor certification, and J-1 waivers.