The Immigration Law practice at Leonard, Street and Deinard is dedicated to serving our clients efficiently and cost-effectively. We work with businesses; academic, arts, hotel and entertainment institutions; athletes and athletic organizations; and individuals to resolve employment, student and family-based immigration matters. We navigate the application procedures for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, and help our clients understand what can sometimes be a frustrating and lengthy process. We are up-to-date on the latest developments in the Department of Homeland Security, which now houses all of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) functions.

We know that the key to submitting successful filings is obtaining and organizing the information and materials that the governmental agencies will focus on when reviewing our clients’ petitions. Our experience has taught us what information to gather at the outset and how to organize it most effectively for swift processing by the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), the branch of the Department of Homeland Security that processes immigration benefit petitions like work visas and green card petitions. Our experience has also taught us to anticipate the pitfalls of the process and to be prepared to respond quickly to agency inquiries about filings.

Leonard, Street and Deinard’s immigration attorneys and paralegals are prepared to assist our clients in many aspects of the immigration law practice, including:

• Employment, student, and family-based nonimmigrant (temporary), including B, F, H, J, K, L, M, and Q visas
• TN-1 visas and other NAFTA-related issues
• Employment and family-based immigrant (permanent) visas and adjustment of status and P visas for entertainers, artists, athletes, and athletic organizations
• Physician J-1 waivers
• T, U and V-visas
• Naturalization and citizenship
• Preparing for and defending I-9 Compliance Audits
• Preparing and processing national interest waivers
• Immigration through investment
• Humanitarian-based immigration, including applications for asylum, withholding of removal and Torture Convention relief
• VAWA petitions
• Refugee and Asylee adjustment applications
• Administrative appeals to the Administrative Appeals Office and the Board of Immigration Appeals BIA
• Immigration litigation, before the Executive Office of Immigration Review, the BIA, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals

Our immigration practice group handles matters for a number of clients with multiple and ongoing immigration needs. These clients represent the best of what our immigration practice group has to offer to achieve the efficiencies of scale and cost-effectiveness, and that’s why you will see representatives of these companies on our list of references.

Pentair/Hoffman Enclosures

Hoffman Enclosures is a Minnesota corporation engaged in the design, development and manufacture of metal and composite enclosures and accessories that house and protect sensitive electrical/electronic equipment controls and components. Founded in 1945 and headquartered in Anoka, Minnesota, Hoffman employs over 1,700 individuals and generates annual revenues totaling $400 million.

Pentair, Hoffman’s parent, is a diversified manufacturer serving customers worldwide in its core businesses: tools, water technologies, and enclosures. With approximately 12,500 employees and annual sales approaching $3 billion, Pentair provides construction, woodworking, electronics, water conditioning, and industrial markets with a wide range of innovative, quality products. Headquartered in Minnesota, Pentair operates from more than 50 locations in North America, Europe and Asia.

Leonard, Street and Deinard’s Immigration Law practice group has successfully petitioned the INS for temporary and permanent (green card) visas across the spectrum of Pentair’s and Hoffman’s management, engineer and business unit workforce. It is an excellent example of our ability to manage and process multiple matters for a single client in all parts of the United States.

Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway is engaged in rail freight transportation throughout Canada and the United States Canadian Pacific Rail operates one of the largest railway systems in North America, providing rail and intermodal freight transportation to most principal centers in Canada as well as the midwestern and northeastern United States, reaching a total population base of more than 150 million people. In the United States, Canadian Pacific’s rail system provides rail and freight transportation over a 17,399 mile railway system through 16 states, providing employment to approximately 20,000 individuals in Canada and the United States. Our Immigration Law practice group is the U.S. immigration counsel for Canadian Pacific Rail and the Soo Line Railroad.

Third Wave Systems

Third Wave Systems is a privately held software products and solutions company focusing on the advanced technology needs of the machining industry. It researches, develops, designs, engineers and markets unique machining (metal-cutting) simulation and analysis technology solutions and products, which are utilized by leading companies in the automotive and aerospace industries. Since 2001, Leonard, Street and Deinard has been immigration counsel for TWS, successfully processing numerous immigrant and nonimmigrant visas for computer software and design engineers from abroad.

Schmersal LLC

Schmersal LLC is a global market leader in the design and manufacture of industrial machine-guarding safety products and related control accessories. The company is represented in more than 22 countries, with affiliated corporate offices in the United States, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria and Brazil. We have successfully transferred executives, managers and workers from Schmersal’s foreign offices to work in their U.S. operations.

St. Paul Public Schools

We work with the St. Paul Public Schools to bring in foreign exchange teachers and visitors so that the school system can take advantage of foreign skills and expertise in a wide variety of educational areas.

United States Hockey League

We are the “go-to” immigration counsel for the USHL, petitioning the INS to bring to the United States talented athletes, coaches, managers and teachers.

Hospitality Industry

We have handled a number of hotel management, travel agency and temporary worker matters for several hotel chains in the Upper Midwest, bringing management and specially-skilled personnel into the United States.

Patrick’s French Bakery

Patrick’s French Bakery desperately needed a classically trained French pastry chef to help run the business and to relieve owner Patrick Bernet from his 20-hour days overseeing every aspect of the business. The problem, however, was that the INS (especially since 9/11), has been reluctant to issue H-1B visas and work permits to individuals for anything other than traditional “professional” positions requiring the minimum educational background of a bachelor's degree or higher. In the United States, unlike in France, a master pastry chef is not traditionally viewed as a “professional” position qualifying for such a visa.

We showed the INS that French pastry-making, unlike most other chef positions, required advanced training, education and experience usually attained only through a formal educational program. Relying on expert opinion letters from the dean of Baking and Pastry Studies at the Culinary Institute of America in New York and a certified master chef from Kendall College in Evanston, Illinois; testimonials from French restaurants in the Twin Cities, Chicago, San Francisco and Denver; and arguments about the complexity and uniqueness of French pastry making, we were able to convince the INS that the master French pastry chef is a professional position qualifying for an H-1B visa. Our client, who understood that obtaining the visa would be an uphill battle, is elated to have the assistance he needs.