1 Hour MCLE; 1 Legal Specialization in Immigration & Nationality Law 

Part 1 of the series will be a discussion of key updates and emerging trends in nonimmigrant visas and will include:

1. The January 2025 modernization of H-1B Final Rule and its increased oversight on entrepreneurs
2. Recent H-1B RFE trends including biometrics, prevailing wage issues, and site visits.  
3. Heightened scrutiny of TN visa applicants at the border amid increased enforcement efforts 
4. E- Treaty Investor Visas – eligibility, renewals and country considerations
5. Business travel considerations for nonimmigrants– Are cells phone and laptops subject to searches at ports of entry? 

Part 2 will focus on green card and naturalization, including Trump Gold Card, mandatory interviews for employment based green cards and how employment history is evaluated during citizenship application process.

Kevin Levine

Kevin Levine is an immigration attorney who has been solely practicing immigration law as a sole practitioner since September 1994. He is a member of the California Bar Association, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the LA County Bar Immigration Law Section. Kevin primarily handles business immigration issues.  He assists business clients with nonimmigrant work visas (H, E, L, J, O, P, R), as well as green cards through employment with both PERM/Labor Certifications as well as employment-based immigrant petitions (EB1, EB2, EB3, EB4).  In the business arena, his clients range from some of the largest multinational corporations in the world to small start-up businesses. His O and P clients are primarily involved in entertainment – dancers, choreographers, lighting directors, costume designers, creative directors, cinematographers, producers, production managers, and influencers, as well as professional tennis players and their support personnel (coaches and trainers) on the ATP and WTA tours.

Radhika Balaji

Ms. Balaji is the founder of Law Office of Radhika Balaji and provides holistic immigration recommendations to both corporate and individual clients. As an immigrant herself, fluent in Tamil and Hindi, Radhika prides herself on being able to empathize with all of her clients, no matter their nationality, in order to provide personalized representation. Her practice focuses on counseling small to mid-size corporations and start-ups on U.S. immigration issues arising from employment and corporate restructuring. Additionally, she represents individual clients on a variety of family-based immigration matters, including green card applications for parents, children, fiancés and spouses, application for removal of conditions on permanent residence and citizenship. Ms. Balaji routinely contributes to “Immigration Updates” published by the International and Immigration Law Section of the CLA. Through AILA’s Military Assistance Program, she has volunteered to provide pro-bono immigration representation to military families and frequently staffs Naturalization Clinics hosted by the local Bar Associations.

Josh Surowitz

Josh M. Surowitz has personally been engaged for consultation and representation by nationals of over 150 countries, and regularly represents clients at U.S. Embassies and Consulates on every inhabited continent. Mr. Surowitz represents corporations and other entities of every size, in every sector – both public and private. Since 2015, he has served on the Executive Committee for the California Bar Association International Law and Immigration Section (Now CLA). He has also served as the Education Chair, Immigration Chair, and Co-Chair of the Foreign Bar Relations Committees, and is a Past Chair of the CLA International Law Section. Since 2011, Surowitz Immigration, PC has also maintained a liaison office in Barcelona, Spain.

Carl Shusterman

Immigration Lawyer Carl Shusterman has practiced immigration law for over 40 years. Before entering private practice, he served as a Trial Attorney for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Carl has been named one of the top 15 corporate immigration attorneys in the U.S. by Human Resource Executive magazine. He has testified before the U.S. Senate Immigration Subcommittee as an expert witness.