Immigration After Covid

By Chris M. Ingram, LL.M., ESQ

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It’s been over two years since California’s Gavin Newsom came on the news and said on March 19^th, 2020 that he was issuing a statewide lockdown. The lockdown was to take effect that very day and so businesses up and down the country were literally forced to close their doors, send their employees home, and those who could work from home did, whilst others simply lost their jobs overnight. It was the start of a very dark time for the entire country. Even USCIS staff were thrown into chaos.

As California and other states were locking down, lives were being lost at an alarming rate. As of the writing of this article, U.S. exceeded one million deaths and counting, with nearly 300 (no longer 3000) deaths per day still being recorded at the time of writing this article. Many of us have personally lost friends and family to covid, or underlying conditions, or know of someone who has.

It has been with this backdrop that the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram, (LOCMI) amongst thousands of other businesses has had to not only weather these last two years, but come out of the other side better, and we have. I would like to say it has been all peaches and cream, but the reality is it has not been the case. We have had to work twice as hard in the most adverse circumstances in over 100-years and figure out how to adapt and survive this pandemic.

I’m pleased and proud to say that the LOCMI has emerged from the other side as a much larger law firm than before the pandemic. Our win rate has never faltered. It has been an incredibly challenging time, but we have gotten through it and now we’re striving to maintain our newfound momentum. How has this been possible?

There are several reasons why LOCMI has come out on top. The key to our success has been to recognize the size of the challenge and then re-structure the management team to handle key areas of the practice. You must remember, that staff members with their own personal and family health challenges, were thrust to work outside the office hub and they had to do a lot of personal reinventing themselves.

We now have Jacqueline who heads up our Intake department and over recent months has managed to double her team, and the number of new clients we are able to screen, approve and take on has broken all-time records. We have Judith, who has over 20 years in the legal profession, and she is in-charge of final legal quality control before, my personal sign off. Yes, I have always and still do personally sign off on every single case before it leaves the office, this is my primary role.

We have Annie as our Case Manager. Annie works with our lawyers and paralegals to help them better manage their caseloads, before the work is reviewed by Judith. Annie has been with the law firm for several years and prior to joining us worked for the international news organization, Tompson Reuters, for seven years.

To round out our management team we have Jackie who serves as our General Manager of the entire law firm. Jackie overseas the entire law firm, looking after our staff in multiple countries. Jackie reports to me, but basically to keep me inline.

We have an awesome dedicated management team that is delivering record breaking results and I could not be prouder of them. It’s clear to me, the best is yet to come.

I also want to give the most heartfelt shout out to all our clients we have worked with during the pandemic years. Whilst we have won more cases than I can count over the last two years, this has been an extremely turbulent time for our clients. They had to endure, the law firm losing staff, and having new staff take over their cases: they have had to deal with the staffing difficulties within USCIS and their erratic adjudication policies as waves of new USCIS were being hired to replace those that were lost, not to mention the job uncertainties our clients have had to endure as they were either facing job loss, relocation or both.

What I love most about this story is that during the worst times of our lives we’ve continued to see a steady number of cases being approved, which means we have had the joy and privilege to see one family and after another daily, weekly and monthly, see their American Dream come true. We still have many clients who have had their cases approved months ago still waiting for their consular interviews around the world due to lingering Covid issues.  It must be hard for them, and we certainly stand with them as they wait to clear this final hurdle.

This September marks my 19^th year as an Immigration Attorney. I am thankful every day for the work I can do in changing the lives of so many people for the better. I often think about many of the families we have helped, and I love getting thank you emails even years after we won their case, as some clients love to just stay in touch and have become dear personal friends, none more so than our General Manager Jackie, who came to us as a client with her family. Who knew many years later she would not only join the law firm having previously been a Barrister, but that she would go on to become its General Manager; one of life’s ironies, I guess.

LOCMI is an inspired law firm. Our clients challenge us and inspire us every day. We live to change lives and we work as hard as we can to ensure that as many of our as clients as possible get the visa or green card they so obviously deserve so they can play their role in contributing to this melting pot of immigrants called America.

Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram

US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram Chris M. Ingram LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Attorney Admitted in New York. Practice Specializing in US Immigration Law 401 Wilshire Boulevard, 12th Floor, [Cross Streets 4th and Wilshire] Santa Monica, California 90401 Tel: 310 496 4292

Specializing in the E2 Visa, EB1 Green Card, L-1A Visa and O1 Visa and K1 Visa Marriage-Based Immigration. Attorney Chris M. Ingram is dedicated to providing the very best in US Immigration legal representation. Enjoy our website.

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