Who Am I?
Tailor Made Educational Services
If you talk to Stephan about National Interest Waiver immigrant petitions (NIWs), you will quickly learn how passionate he is about them. From his first day at Fragomen, he has been at the forefront of the firm’s NIW practice.
Stephan started in the firm’s Phoenix office as a junior member of a team that tested the limits of the NIW. Within six months, Stephan was managing the daily operations of the team. He and his colleagues broke down barriers to permanent residence for brilliant scientists and pioneering engineers from around the world. In the process, they unlocked millions of dollars in cost savings for clients and fundamentally changed the way that many Fragomen attorneys approach this type of case.
When NIW law changed in December 2016, Stephan immediately analyzed the new analytical framework and developed new strategies for success. As U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) continues to refine the way it adjudicates NIWs, Stephan adapts quickly, modifies his approach accordingly and finds ways to win these important cases for his clients.
Although NIWs are Stephan’s forte, he embraces bold approaches to many parts of U.S. immigration law—one of the most complicated sets of immigration laws in the world. He is a self-described permanent-residence enthusiast with a special interest in EB-1B Outstanding Professors/Researchers and EB-1A Individuals with Extraordinary Ability (and its work-visa equivalent, O-1 Individuals with Extraordinary Ability).
Stephan continues to influence Fragomen’s law practice as he represents clients of all sizes in many industries, from individual physicians, scientists and business professionals to Fortune 500 companies. He is well versed in employment-based cases, including the following types of work visas:
H-1B Specialty Occupation (for professionals whose occupations require at least a bachelor’s degree in a specific specialty)
L-1A Intracompany Transferee: Multinational Executive or Manager (for foreign executives and managers transferring to related companies in the U.S.)
L-1B Intracompany Transferee: Specialized Knowledge (for foreign employees with advanced, proprietary knowledge of their employers’ products and services transferring to related companies in the U.S.)
O-1 Extraordinary Ability (for individuals with extraordinary ability in their field of expertise)
TN NAFTA Professionals (for Canadian and Mexican professionals in NAFTA categories)
E-3 (for Australian professionals whose occupations require at least a bachelor’s degree in a specific specialty)
Stephan also represents individuals in naturalization and family-based permanent-residence cases, including expedited, direct filing at U.S. consulates based on exceptional circumstances.
Stephan’s pro bono work includes asylum, special immigrant juvenile and Board of Immigration Appeals cases.