My grandfather, Joseph Zwaik, was 16 years old when he walked off the steamship plank onto Ellis Island. It was 1911 and he was traveling alone, carrying everything he owned in a small suitcase. He came to a country that needed his labor and he faced an immigration bureaucracy that was more concerned with trachoma than with terrorists. Physicians checked for trachoma, a contagious eye infection, by turning the eyelid inside out with a buttonhook to look for inflammations on the inner eyelid. The process was quick and painful. Today, the process of immigrating to the United States is often slow and painful. An American citizen seeking to reunite with brothers or sisters must wait up to 12 years to bring them to the USA. A U.S. employer in desperate need of skilled workers to keep his business going must often wait between three to five years to bring in the workers he needs. “Illegal aliens” who keep America’s farms and factories working are often treated like criminals. Our immigration laws are so complex and contradictory as to defy any logic and politicians play to the voters by blaming immigrants for our problems in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Individuals seeking to immigrate to the USA today need the help of an experienced immigration professional. We are active in all phases of immigration law including investment and business related petitions, family based petitions, political asylum, removal proceedings, and CSS/LULAC applications. We obtain work related status for professionals (H-1B), non-professionals (H-2B) and investors (E-2). We also obtain green cards for investors, professionals (including doctors, athletes, researchers, educators, and business professionals) and skilled workers (including specialty cooks, machine operators, and others.)
Our clients come from all over the U.S. and abroad, including individuals and corporate clients in Europe, South America and Asia. They come to the USA today with many dreams and they come with the same dream as my grandfather’s almost a century ago – to find a better life. My uncle, Stanley Zwaik began an immigration practice more than 50 years ago to help people find that dream. And we are dedicated to that same principle today. Why not say hello!