Fernanda Hottle, Managing Attorney, The Hottle Law Firm, LLCFernanda Hottle, Managing Attorney
The United States is the most popular destination for the world's skilled labor. Consequently, the opening of world markets and expanding trade in America has made the immigration laws more complex and dynamic, particularly in business immigration. As the largest and most actively evolving part of immigration law business immigration covers diverse topics such as work visas, investor visas, employment-based green cards, and permanent residence for talented individuals.

Unfortunately, it is all too common to find immigrants and businesses alike falling prey to various illegal actors, who take advantage of the employer/employees' lack of legal expertise regarding U.S. immigration. Here, the American dream can quickly turn into a nightmare if they don't follow specific guidelines and seek proper counsel, leading to complications or even, deportation.

It is in this area of need that The Hottle Law Firm, LLC, provides expert legal solutions to resolve business immigration problems for its clients. With a decade-long experience in U.S. immigration laws, Fernanda Hottle, Managing Attorney at The Hottle Law Firm, LLC, shares her insights on the complex employment-based visas and business immigration laws in the U.S.

Could you give our readers an overview of The Hottle Law Firm, LLC?

The Hottle Law Firm, LLC is a one hundred percent immigration law firm. We are a small firmthat handles both family and business immigration cases. We help our clients pick out the best type of visas for their employees and guide them through every step, from employer compliance to employee maintenance of status.

What are the most significant pain points that you remedy for your clients?

Many employers have a big misconception about the immigration process, like it is just a matter of an employer's interest in sponsoring somebody. Often, they write letters which read, "I want to hire this employee, I want to sponsor them and here are my documents." But that's not how the process works. The U.S. immigration law seeks a perfect match, in terms of an employer's needs with what the employee has to offer. We cannot create those prerequisites if they don't already have that to offer. If we can figure this out early on, then the immigration application flows smoothly.

Could you walk our readers through the client onboarding process at your firm?

Usually, we have somebody contact us. It can be either the employer or the employee. Often, it is the employee themselves who call us and say, "Oh, I work for this company and they want to sponsor me, what do we need to do?" It is essential in the first contact to get the basic information about the requirements of a business visa case. For example, if an employee initiates the first contact, we give them the essential knowledge and ask them to relay it to their employer.

The next step involves contact with the employer. We conduct a conference call with both the employer's representative and the employee to ensure that everyone is on board in terms of individual responsibility—from proper documentation and application processing to comprehensive evaluation for the applicant's entire time duration.

We treat each of our clients as if they were our only client

After completing that, we start collecting documents and proceed with the legal steps to procure that specific business visa. For example, the EB3 category, which is the most common employment visa that leads to a green card, requires a lot of mandatory checks such as a market review, recruitment, etc. The employer needs to prove that they could not find a U.S. worker who was willing, able, and qualified for that specific position or category. Then we proceed to get a certification from the U.S. Department of Labor, after which we file the actual visa application with the immigration authorities.

Could you also share a customer success story or a case study with us where you were able to solve a specific client's problem?

We firmly believe in transparency and a teamwork-based approach to better serve our clients. In one specific case, our client could not get a favorable result due to a lack of information in the application required by the government agencies—specifically, the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. To solve the problem, we started engaging in discussions with the employer and the employee. With their help, we were able to present additional arguments and evidence to help those in the government agencies see the case from our point of view. This made them reverse their original unfavorable decision and allowed us to continue the case.

In terms of the work culture and experiences, could you tell us more about the people who work at The Hottle Law Firm, LLC?

I was initially working as an attorney in Brazil. When I moved to the U.S., I decided to continue my legal career but due to different sets of laws and practices in the U.S., I had to attend law school again, and take the bar exam in Georgia.

Today, we are a small yet agile firm, of which I'm the owner and the managing attorney. I have a few people working with me as my staff. We have a good percentage of Portuguese-speaking clients; hence, our team can communicate in English and Portuguese. I can also speak Spanish, which gives our firm significant leverage while communicating with our clients.

Here at Hottle Law, I ensure that people who work with me have compassion and are genuinely interested in helping our clients overcome all obstacles. Anytime we hear from clients, one of the main things they mention is our staff's politeness and helpfulness. Showing compassion and interest in their case is something that they sincerely appreciate. The fact that we are a small firm gives us the means of being responsive to the clients.

Finally, what is your immediate roadmap for 2021 and beyond?

Growth is always on our minds, but we don't want rapid growth that tarnishes the level of service that we provide to our clients. As long as recognition does not affect who we are and what we stand for—treating each of our clients as if they were our only client—we will be happy to welcome such things. Our main goal is to continue providing our clients with top-tier service and accommodating their needs for this year and beyond.