VP of Immigration Operations

VP of Immigration Operations (Remote)

We are seeking a VP of Immigration Operations for one of our amazing partners on the East Coast of the United States.

You will lead and scale their H2B and EB-3 team's footprint into new industries, regions, and workflows. There will be personnel management and development, H-2B strategy development and advising to internal teams. This is a full-time and direct hire role, and they are open to remote candidates that can travel quarterly.

Subject Matter Expert responsibilities include:

Determine best workflow options based on company needs and regulations throughout various life cycles of H-2B and EB-3 Visa.

Support sales and marketing efforts, including creating and presenting at conferences, creating white papers, blog posts, and marketing content.

Participate in industry thought leadership groups.

Support internal initiatives like creating the solution and directing the team and IT when updates to regulations occur.

Provide written summaries of key issues that impact the business and their clients.

Management Responsibilities:

Manage a small group of client managers and/or paralegals.

Support and advise client managers by answering H-2 questions that come up and assist with drafting temporary need statements.

Work with management to review and implement efficient workflow options.

Investigate and resolve NODs and identify patterns informing the team of best practices.

Ability to own cases if necessary and serve as a resource to training and onboarding the team onto Salesforce (be able to take a case from start to finish in Salesforce).

Review current metrics and identify additional data that could be helpful for managing the business, and/or assisting with the expansion of their offerings.

Requirements:

10+ years of work experience in a legal setting

10+ Years of Immigration law experience, preferably including H-2A/H-2B/EB-3

Must have a JD and a valid license in any U.S. state to practice law.

Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university

Excellent interpersonal skills (written and verbal)

Legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, age, ancestry, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, or military or veteran status.

My notes:

Role: This is a new growth for them, but it is confidential at this point. This person will not be practicing law, because they are a services company, but they will be giving H2 legal advice as a subject matter expert (SME). There are a lot of moving parts in H2 visas vs other visas, so they want someone who understands the H2 process, so they can answer any questions the team has. They get a lot of questions from their internal team, and they will answer them and provide guidance of what they can and can’t do. They have an internal hotline and questions come in daily for the attorneys to answer. This person needs to feel comfortable enough to give advice without having to look up much. They will not do litigation, or even advising or speaking to clients a lot. They will mostly help out the internal case managers. Besides answering questions, they will also do some QC documents and help write some responses as well.

Update on role (4/16/2024): Our candidates aren’t missing the mark completely. It’s just a senior role and they are being very picky. They have 2 execs that are moving to Florida, and they think they might transition out, so it’s very important that this person fits in. Having H2 knowledge is more important. VP has to be an attorney and understand the H2 program. They are managing the people (not directly at first), managing the process and managing themselves. They are in a transitional phase and they need people willing to roll up their sleeves to get work done. They need to be able to look at the greater picture and see what they can do to help the program long term. Someone who can talk to case managers and to understand where they are with their knowledge of the H2 program. Someone who can help build them up and call their BS when needed. They need to have management skills, even if they don’t have a large team initially. They might manage 10 in a month but no promises. If we find a rockstar that wants to manage people right away, they will reorganize so they can manage a team.

Must have: They need to be a business-minded immigration attorney with at least 2-3 years of experience outside of law school. They would ideally like them to have 10 years, but they are flexible. This is ideally an immigration attorney that spent time in the federal gov’t. They want someone who has filed H2B visas, and understands the process to do so, so they can answer any questions. They would like them to have H2B or EB3 experience, which could be a challenge. If they don’t, H2A is ok, and other immigration if they don’t have those. They just have to be willing to learn H2B and be a member of the immigration community. It’s ok if they are a current immigration attorney with their own practice, but they wouldn’t be able to keep their own practice (unless they consult only).

Team: This is still not decided, and they might not have direct reports under them. For now, they are over H2B but they could have 1-2 people under. It could be a small group of managers, case managers, and/or paralegals. There are currently 3 other attorneys, not including the COO, and they are all equals. Most of them have 2-8 years of experience, and most got their experience here. There isn’t much of a difference between their roles, but they focus more on being SME’s for H2B over all.

Personalities: The COO says that it’s all about hard work and grit. She said that everyone should be willing to work and roll up their sleeves, even if they are at a higher level. She likes someone who can get things done and who is pleasant. Someone who can deliver, but she has no problem training and teaching. She doesn’t like drama. They need people with Tanna’s personality. They need the skillset to work with different personalities and skill sets. Someone who can be a mentor and can be warm and fuzzy. Personality is key and they need an A player. They need someone who can go the extra mile and has that grit to work hard. Someone who can run blindly with them, who can trust the process and who is moldable. They need someone that can maneuver through channels they are moving through and have the patience.

Immigration Lawyers:

Richmond: McCandlish Holton, Challa Law Group, Hyder and Overas, Hyder Immigration Law, Sumner Immigration, KV Immigration, Rahal Immigration, Fayad Law, Tingen Law, Reed Smith, Dyer Immigration, Ramirez Immigration and Taghavi Immigration Law.

Charlottesville: Graham Prichard and Cruz Law.

Fairfax: Murray Osorio, I.S. Law Firm, Valera & Associates, The Boltakke Law Group, USA Immigration Lawyers, Pachuta & Kammerman, Scott CC Immigration Law, Vassell & LeeRC Law Group, Fayad Law, Padilla Immigration, and Seguinot & Associates.

Lynchburg: Caskie & Frost, Mark T Steward Law, Relevant Law.

Competitor: AgWorks H2, LLC, LaborQuest USA, Labormex LLC, Working Link, FirstFruits Farms LLC, Harvest Tek de México, H2B Consulting, Visa Solutions USA, TN Visa Advisors, Labormex Solutions, Work In USA Canadian & Mexican Citizens TN VISA, JOB`S EMPLEO, Farmer Law PC, Servicio Nacional de Empleo, SIGNET, H2 LABORMEX LLC, AG Workforce, ExpressH2B, and (1) Seso Inc.: Overview LinkedIn.

Friendly competitors: Jeanne Malitz, Aztec Labor, Practical Employment Solutions, Farmer Law PC, AWLS and Agri-Placements.

Law Firms that do H2B: Pabian Law

Travel: Very little if any. There might be a trip once a quarter to industry events if they wanted to go.

Interview: You’ll first meet with the COO, then the CEO Edward or other attorneys.

Work hours: Their standard hours are Monday-Friday 8:30/9a-5:00p.

Feedback: she’s very busy, so feedback is slower. She’s open to a weekly meeting to check in and said that we can text too.

Christina: The concerns were that she couldn’t work with change and evolve in a business like theirs or if their job changes. It sounded like she really liked her, but Michelle’s assessment was that she was a C player, and Edward only wants A players. I told her that’s hard when the candidate pool is small, which she agreed, but there isn’t anything they can do now.

Remote/Onsite: remote

Salary/Bonus: $70K-$120K is where current team is. There might be some bonus but no equity. HR said maybe $125-$150K, but could even consider a rockstar at $200K too.

Company info:

Company: They are based in Charlottesville, VA. másLabor is a business-to-business consulting firm specializing in employment-based visa programs for the agricultural, commercial landscaping, hospitality, and construction industries. They are the nation's leading provider of comprehensive H-2A (agricultural) and H-2B (non-agricultural) services, representing thousands of American businesses that depend on their professional expertise to understand the programs' complex regulatory requirements. They also provide services to businesses seeking to employ skilled Mexican and Canadian professionals through the TN program and employers seeking to sponsor their foreign workers for lawful permanent residence in the U.S. (i.e. "green cards"). Their business is at the intersection of labor, international relations, business, and government affairs. Their core mission is saving American businesses, and másLabor is the national leader in our industry. Each year, they help thousands of businesses secure a capable, reliable, legal seasonal workforce by helping them navigate complex government approval processes. Their close-knit team deals with government bureaucrats so their clients can focus on what they do best – running their businesses. Their work is challenging, but rewarding, as they deliver “wins” on behalf of business owners and help them stay compliant in a heavy-regulated environment.

Overview: They aren’t a law firm, but consultants or advisors to their clients. They basically help US employers navigate the H2 visa process, and they efficiently process low value visas. They work with a lot of blue collar professionals and they have lawyers on staff. They are the largest in the country based on number of visas processed. They help companies bring in short term lower-level workers the legal way. The H-2A (agricultural) Visa is more for farm type of work and the H-2B (non-agricultural) visa is more for landscaping and other blue collar type of roles. The H2 visa is used for seasonal work, and when they are done, they go back home or on other contracts. masLabor helps their clients with paperwork & filing, and even recruiting out of Mexico. They have a logistics arm to help recruit new workers and get them to the US. Once they are in the country, they help their clients stay compliant. They process about 60,000 visas a year, and most of them are primarily Mexican workers. They want to get to 100,000 and double that. Competitors are generally law firms and most don’t have logistics and recruiters in Mexico. They have about 75 people total but only 3 in IT right now. They also acquired AgWorks H2.

Company Background: másLabor was established in 2003 by Libby Whitley, whose leadership experience included two decades in Washington, D.C. advocating on behalf of agricultural and other seasonal employers. másLabor continues as a preeminent industry leader and supporter of seasonal businesses. They serve on the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) Executive Committee, and are a Seasonal Employment Alliance (SEA) founding member. Today the business is led by CEO Edward Silva. With a background in operations, technology, agriculture, and small businesses, Edward is poised to lead másLabor into the next chapter of saving American businesses.

Remote: Most of the team is in VA. They are open to remote workers, but the bar will be raised.

Tech: They were behind in tech, and they want to shift away from a mom-and-pop type of business. They have been going through a transformation, and they brought in a new VP of Tech to take them to the next step in 2022. They were using Microsoft access, but now they are using Salesforce. They are going to NetSuite, and moving from Outlook to Zendesk. They are going to Hubspot as well. Their IT team primarily supports internal systems, but they work with some external systems like their client portal as well.

Personalities: They have 5 core company values. Those are grit, client focused, data driven, bias to action and clarity. They like people who feel for the underdog. They work with a lot of small to mid-sized businesses that are struggling to find people, and they want to help clients succeed. They need someone who is comfortable with change as the business goes from adolescents to adulthood.

Benefits: 401(k) matching, Health insurance, Free dental and vision insurance, Health savings account, Life insurance, 3 weeks of PTO with generous holidays, and Parental leave (birthing and non-birthing parent). Benefits kick in the first day of the month following start date. You will receive her 40 hours of PTO on your 90th day, and it will accrue every pay period thereafter for a total of 3 weeks your first year.

Personal about the CEO Edward: He’s been the CEO since July 2021. He got his BS at UCal-Davis and his master’s at Stanford. He grew up in Cali and his family are all Raider’s fan. He joked that he’s a chiefs fan to go against them. His wife went to Oregon so they are hard core Ducks fans. He lives in VA now with his wife, 3 year old boy and 1 year girl. His Linked In is Here is a great article about Edward too. His calendly is

Personal about the COO, April Pish: She is the COO and started in Dec 2023. Her Linked In is She was an attorney for KB Toys, a CEO, Dir of HR, President & General Counsel prior. She lives in NJ with her husband, but she’s currently staying at an Airbnb for the first 6 months to get a lot of one-on-one time with the CEO and learn the business well. She has a lot of family in Opaka, Florida (near Orlando), so she’s there a lot too. Her husband is a big Canadians hockey fan, so she became a fan too. She is all about hard work and grit. She believes that everyone should be willing to work and roll up their sleeves, even if they are at a higher level. She likes someone who can get things done and who is pleasant. Someone who can deliver, but she has no problem training and teaching. She doesn’t like drama. She’s very busy, so feedback is slower. She’s open to a weekly meeting to check in and said that we can text too.

COO Role: She’s in charge of all of operations, which includes HR, case management, worker operations, general counsel, and everything back office. Pretty much everything, except finance, IT and sales. She might be getting customer success, though. She has about 65 people under her, but she has 7 direct reports. There are currently 3 other attorneys (hiring a 4th) plus her. Most of them have 2-8 years of experience, and most got their experience here. There isn’t much of a difference between their roles, but they focus more on being SME’s for H2B over all.

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Landscaping vendors: SiteOne Landscape supply

Local companies: International Rescue Committee, CoConstruct and Church world service.

Original Job Description:

VP, H-2B (Immigration Attorney)

Position: Vice President, H-2B

Department: Business Operations

Location: