Ohio Immigration Laws

By: Margaret Wong

Hi, I’m Scott Bratton, I’m a partner at Margaret Wong & Associates. I’ve practiced immigration law for the past 13 years representing immigrants throughout the United States. I specialize in federal litigation, removal defense, and other complex issues involving immigration law. I’m the head of the Removal Defense and Litigation departments at Margaret Wong & Associates. I also teach immigration law at Cleveland State University.

I handle complicated immigration matters ranging from removal defense to federal litigation and adjustment of status and naturalization cases. Our firm represents immigrants throughout the United States in all aspects of other immigration cases. We passionately represent individuals in trying to help them obtain their dream of citizenship, non-immigrant status or lawful permanent resident status. If you have any questions, please contact me, and I’ll be happy to talk to you about your case.

By: Scott Bratton

We have done a lot of cases through the years, because every year we do 4,000 to 6,000 new matters that includes all our consults, our cases around the country, around the world, and all the work permits we got, the deportation, the filings, the asylum, the green cards, the extraordinary.

There are quite a few cases that came back to my mind. One of that is U.S. sitting president, President Obama’s auntie’s case. She’s a woman in the 60s. I met her right before the election of the president, and because of the press– I mean, at that time we don’t know if he’ll win. We are very careful of not letting the public know that I’m working on this case. She’s really an awesome lady. Of course, my partner talked about my firm, or also working with the uncle’s case. Uncle and auntie are so different even though genetically they belong in the same family. Uncle’s a lot more reserved, a lot more– He’s very gentle. Auntie is very more feisty and making sure that things are done right. So it’s two different personalities, and I said through the years, to work with clients you have to work with them on their– because immigration work is very different from corporate or tax.

Because the vision of course is keep them in America, get them a work permit, and get them a green card.   But you also have to work with that person. It’s a very retail, as I said in the industry. It’s not a wholesale practice. It’s a very retail orientated which means that with her, with the public uproar, did we get special treatment? Absolutely no. In fact, it drove me nuts. It’s easier to work on a low profile case than a high profile, because I know all my lawyer, federal friends are watching me. I know the government is watching. I know the right wing, the left wings, they are all watching. In order to be a good lawyer or a great lawyer, you really have to work in the trenches for years, and years as Blackwell said in The Outliers that you have to give them at least 10,000 hours of core competence of hard work. And I’ve done it for 38 years, 36 years.

So but with auntie’s case we won which is– Auntie’s case, it’s difficult because of the pressure, because of the disability, and also because of the law. She didn’t come to America until the 90s. In Immigration work, generally, the older you came to America– I mean, the longer ago you came to America, the better the case is, because laws have since changed. So and I’m the type of lawyer to work it, because I’m not young enough to not know history, but I’m not that old that I forgot.

By: Margaret Wong

The American History really controls the inflow, the immigrants of our people. But in the past 20 or 30 years, that’s where I lucked out because I came right at the height of the economic boom off of America. But now it’s difficult because now with the– because H1B law is only 65 number. In my days I was H1B. That’s unlimited numbers. The filing fee in my days is like $25. Now it’s just a filing fee of H1B is $1500. Anybody who hires more than 25 people, the $500 anti-fraud, $320 for the H1. If you have family and married, that’s another $300 including wife and kids. So if you have five kids and one husband, you still– it’s under the one filing fee of $340 so H1B.

So things have really changed. If you have Masters, if you have a net of $20,000– so by April first all these numbers that you stop. So both as an immigration lawyer and as clients, we are very in tuned to the timing of the year. The H2s are the Mexicans. On H2s they come to America by February, March, or April because that’s when all the seasonal work is coming, and they leave because Christmas is a big holiday in South America and Central America. So they normally go home at that time and come back.   Then a lot of foreign students now because they all economically more powerful than we were when I came.  When I came just a one-way airfare from the Far East is three, four thousand U.S. The exchange rate in those days is eight to one. Now it’s still eight to one. In China now six to one, 6.4 to 1. So in my days it cost like thousands of dollars to fly over on 90 day, 30 day boat ride. So we’d never go home. Even for New Years we’d pay– even though you’re willing to pay to stand in line in the dormitories to make a long distance call. One long distance call for one year. But we write letters. Of course in those days there’s no Google. The phone is still circular phone. It’s not a punch phone.

So I look back and I’m so glad of this program because it really makes me think how times have changed. But the work remains the same.   To be a great anything, Minister, lawyer, doctor, cook, dry cleaner, you really have to be the best of the best. If not you won’t survive in America. It’s not like 30, 40 years ago. All of us expected a job. The unemployment rate was about one or two percent. Now it’s like– they say 7%. I think it’s like 15% now unemployment. You’re not good you’re not going to get a job. If you get a job you won’t be happy. So why work when you’re not happy and you really are not accomplishing your dreams.

By: Margaret Wong