VP Of Immigration Operations

VP of Immigration Operations (Remote)

We are seeking a VP of Immigration Operations for one of our amazing partners on the East Coast of the United States.

You will lead and scale their H2B and EB3 teams footprint into new industries regions and workflows. There will be personnel management and development H2B strategy development and advising to internal teams. This is a fulltime and direct hire role and they are open to remote candidates that can travel quarterly.

Subject Matter Expert responsibilities include:

• Determine best workflow options based on company needs and regulations throughout various life cycles of H2B and EB3 Visa.
• Support sales and marketing efforts including creating and presenting at conferences creating white papers blog posts and marketing content.
• Participate in industry thought leadership groups.
• Support internal initiatives like creating the solution and directing the team and IT when updates to regulations occur.
• Provide written summaries of key issues that impact the business and their clients.

Management Responsibilities:

• Manage a small group of client managers and/or paralegals.
• Support and advise client managers by answering H2 questions that come up and assist with drafting temporary need statements.
• Work with management to review and implement efficient workflow options.
• Investigate and resolve NODs and identify patterns informing the team of best practices.
• Ability to own cases if necessary and serve as a resource to training and onboarding the team onto Salesforce (be able to take a case from start to finish in Salesforce).
• Review current metrics and identify additional data that could be helpful for managing the business and/or assisting with the expansion of their offerings.

Requirements:

• 10 years of work experience in a legal setting
• 10 Years of Immigration law experience preferably including H2A/H2B/EB3
• Must have a JD and a valid license in any U.S. state to practice law.
• Bachelors Degree from an accredited college or university
• Excellent interpersonal skills (written and verbal)
• Legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color national origin age ancestry religion sex sexual orientation gender identity gender expression marital status disability medical condition genetic information pregnancy or military or veteran status.

My notes:

• Role: This is a new growth for them but it is confidential at this point. This person will not be practicing law because they are a services company but they will be giving H2 legal advice as a subject matter expert (SME). There are a lot of moving parts in H2 visas vs other visas so they want someone who understands the H2 process so they can answer any questions the team has. They get a lot of questions from their internal team and they will answer them and provide guidance of what they can and cant do. They have an internal hotline and questions come in daily for the attorneys to answer. This person needs to feel comfortable enough to give advice without having to look up much. They will not do litigation or even advising or speaking to clients a lot. They will mostly help out the internal case managers. Besides answering questions they will also do some QC documents and help write some responses as well.
• Must have: They need to be a businessminded immigration attorney with at least 23 years of experience outside of law school. They would ideally like them to have 10 years but they are flexible. This is ideally an immigration attorney that spent time in the federal govt. They want someone who has filed H2B visas and understands the process to do so so they can answer any questions. They would like them to have H2B or EB3 experience which could be a challenge. If they dont H2A is ok and other immigration if they dont have those. They just have to be willing to learn H2B and be a member of the immigration community. Its ok if they are a current immigration attorney with their own practice but they wouldnt be able to keep their own practice (unless they consult only).
• Team: This is still not decided and they might not have direct reports under them. For now they are over H2B but they could have 12 people under. It could be a small group of managers case managers and/or paralegals. There are currently 3 other attorneys not including the COO and they are all equals. Most of them have 28 years of experience and most got their experience here. There isnt much of a difference between their roles but they focus more on being SMEs for H2B over all.
• Personalities: The COO says that its all about hard work and grit. She said that everyone should be willing to work and roll up their sleeves even if they are at a higher level. She likes someone who can get things done and who is pleasant. Someone who can deliver but she has no problem training and teaching. She doesnt like drama.
• Immigration Lawyers:
  • Richmond: McCandlish Holton Challa Law Group Hyder and Overas Hyder Immigration Law Sumner Immigration KV Immigration Rahal Immigration Fayad Law Tingen Law Reed Smith Dyer Immigration Ramirez Immigration and Taghavi Immigration Law.
  • Charlottesville: Graham Prichard and Cruz Law.
  • Fairfax: Murray Osorio I.S. Law Firm Valera & Associates The Boltakke Law Group USA Immigration Lawyers Pachuta & Kammerman Scott CC Immigration Law Vassell & LeeRC Law Group Fayad Law Padilla Immigration and Seguinot & Associates.
  • Lynchburg: Caskie & Frost Mark T Steward Law Relevant Law.
• Competitor: LLC LaborQuest USA Labormex LLC Working Link FirstFruits Farms LLC Harvest Tek de Mxico H2B Consulting Visa Solutions USA TN Visa Advisors Labormex Solutions Work In USA Canadian & Mexican Citizens TN VISA JOBS EMPLEO Farmer Law PC Servicio Nacional de Empleo SIGNET H2 LABORMEX LLC AG Workforce ExpressH2B and (1) Seso Inc.: Overview LinkedIn
  • Friendly competitors: Jeanne Malitz Aztec Labor Practical Employment Solutions Farmer Law PC AWLS and AgriPlacements. AgWorks H2 (part of masLabor)
• Travel: Very little if any. There might be a trip once a quarter to industry events if they wanted to go.
• Interview: Youll first meet with the COO then the CEO Edward or other attorneys.
• Work hours: Their standard hours are MondayFriday 8:30/9a5:00p.
• Feedback: shes very busy so feedback is slower. Shes open to a weekly meeting to check in and said that we can text too.
• Remote/Onsite: remote
• Salary/Bonus: $70K$120K is where current team is. There might be some bonus but no equity. HR said maybe $125$150K but could even consider a rockstar at $200K too.

Company info:

• Company: They are based in Charlottesville VA. msLabor is a businesstobusiness consulting firm specializing in employmentbased visa programs for the agricultural commercial landscaping hospitality and construction industries. They are the nations leading provider of comprehensive H2A (agricultural) and H2B (nonagricultural) services representing thousands of American businesses that depend on their professional expertise to understand the programs complex regulatory requirements. They also provide services to businesses seeking to employ skilled Mexican and Canadian professionals through the TN program and employers seeking to sponsor their foreign workers for lawful permanent residence in the U.S. (i.e. green cards). Their business is at the intersection of labor international relations business and government affairs. Their core mission is saving American businesses and msLabor is the national leader in our industry. Each year they help thousands of businesses secure a capable reliable legal seasonal workforce by helping them navigate complex government approval processes. Their closeknit team deals with government bureaucrats so their clients can focus on what they do best running their businesses. Their work is challenging but rewarding as they deliver wins on behalf of business owners and help them stay compliant in a heavyregulated environment.
  • Overview: They arent a law firm but consultants or advisors to their clients. They basically help US employers navigate the H2 visa process and they efficiently process low value visas. They work with a lot of blue collar professionals and they have lawyers on staff. They are the largest in the country based on number of visas processed. They help companies bring in short term lowerlevel workers the legal way. The H2A (agricultural) Visa is more for farm type of work and the H2B (nonagricultural) visa is more for landscaping and other blue collar type of roles. The H2 visa is used for seasonal work and when they are done they go back home or on other contracts. masLabor helps their clients with paperwork & filing and even recruiting out of Mexico. They have a logistics arm to help recruit new workers and get them to the US. Once they are in the country they help their clients stay compliant. They process about 60000 visas a year and most of them are primarily Mexican workers. They want to get to 100000 and double that. Competitors are generally law firms and most dont have logistics and recruiters in Mexico. They have about 75 people total but only 3 in IT right now. They also acquired AgWorks H2.
• Company Background: msLabor was established in 2003 by Libby Whitley whose leadership experience included two decades in Washington D.C. advocating on behalf of agricultural and other seasonal employers. msLabor continues as a preeminent industry leader and supporter of seasonal businesses. They serve on the National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) Executive Committee and are a Seasonal Employment Alliance (SEA) founding member. Today the business is led by CEO Edward Silva. With a background in operations technology agriculture and small businesses Edward is poised to lead msLabor into the next chapter of saving American businesses.
• Remote: Most of the team is in VA. They are open to remote workers but the bar will be raised.
• Tech: They were behind in tech and they want to shift away from a momandpop type of business. They have been going through a transformation and they brought in a new VP of Tech to take them to the next step in 2022. They were using Microsoft access but now they are using Salesforce. They are going to NetSuite and moving from Outlook to Zendesk. They are going to Hubspot as well. Their IT team primarily supports internal systems but they work with some external systems like their client portal as well.
• Personalities: They have 5 core company values. Those are grit client focused data driven bias to action and clarity. They like people who feel for the underdog. They work with a lot of small to midsized businesses that are struggling to find people and they want to help clients succeed. They need someone who is comfortable with change as the business goes from adolescents to adulthood.
• Benefits: 401(k) matching Health insurance Free dental and vision insurance Health savings account Life insurance 3 weeks of PTO with generous holidays and Parental leave (birthing and nonbirthing parent). Benefits kick in the first day of the month following start date. You will receive her 40 hours of PTO on your 90th day and it will accrue every pay period thereafter for a total of 3 weeks your first year.
• Personal about the CEO Edward: Hes been the CEO since July 2021. He got his BS at UCalDavis and his masters at Stanford. He grew up in Cali and his family are all Raiders fan. He joked that hes a chiefs fan to go against them. His wife went to Oregon so they are hard core Ducks fans. He lives in VA now with his wife 3 year old boy and 1 year girl. His Linked In is . Here is a great article about Edward too. . His calendly is .
• Personal about the COO April Pish: She is the COO and started in Dec 2023. Her Linked In is She was an attorney for KB Toys a CEO Dir of HR President & General Counsel prior. She lives in NJ with her husband but shes currently staying at an Airbnb for the first 6 months to get a lot of oneonone time with the CEO and learn the business well. She has a lot of family in Opaka Florida (near Orlando) so shes there a lot too. Her husband is a big Canadians hockey fan so she became a fan too. She is all about hard work and grit. She believes that everyone should be willing to work and roll up their sleeves even if they are at a higher level. She likes someone who can get things done and who is pleasant. Someone who can deliver but she has no problem training and teaching. She doesnt like drama. Shes very busy so feedback is slower. Shes open to a weekly meeting to check in and said that we can text too.
  • COO Role: Shes in charge of all of operations which includes HR case management worker operations general counsel and everything back office. Pretty much everything except finance IT and sales. She might be getting customer success though. She has about 65 people under her but she has 7 direct reports. There are currently 3 other attorneys (hiring a 4th) plus her. Most of them have 28 years of experience and most got their experience here. There isnt much of a difference between their roles but they focus more on being SMEs for H2B over all.
• Landscaping companies: RSG Southern Landscape Group Rossen Landscape Ruppert Landscape Lawn Doctor Waynesboro Nurseries Inc. Valley Landscaping TruGreen LandCare SiteOne Landscape supply James River Grounds Management John Shorb Landscaping community landscape services BrightView landscapes
• Landscaping vendors: SiteOne Landscape supply
• Local companies: International Rescue Committee CoConstruct and Church world service.

Original Job Description:

VP H2B (Immigration Attorney)

Position: Vice President H2B

Department: Business Operations

Location: Remote with travel to Charlottesville VA quarterly

Reports To: Chief Operating Officer

Overview: Businesstobusiness consulting firm seeking experienced and selfmotivated Vice President to join our Business Operations team and lead the H2B program. This role will help us lead and scale our H2B teams footprint into new industries regions and workflows. This role will serve as an SME on all things H2B (and EB3) both internally and represent msLabor at industry events related to H2B labor HR and building a reliable legal and capable workforce.

This role will be tasked with personnel management and development H2B strategy development and advising and ensuring top notch client services for our nearly 700 H2B clients. He / she may be brought into H2A EB3 and other visas as needed.

msLabor is a leading labor consultant for the agricultural landscaping hospitality and construction industries serving thousands of U.S. businesses across the country.

Subject Matter Expert (SME) responsibilities include:

• Support sales and marketing efforts including creating and presenting at conferences creating white papers blog posts and marketing content.
• Participate in industry thought leadership groups.
• Support internal initiatives as requested by management (e.g. creating the solution and directing the Case Management team and IT when updates to regulations occur).
• Provide written summaries of key issues that impact msLabor and our clients.
• Determine best workflow options based on company needs and regulations throughout various life cycles of H2B and EB3 Visa.

Responsibilities also include management oversight:

• Work with management to review and implement efficient workflow options.
• Support and advise Case Managers by answering questions that come up in the H2 Hotlines and other mediums (meetings inperson client calls etc.)
• Investigate and resolve NODs and identify patterns informing the team of best practices.
• Ability to own cases if necessary and serve as a resource to training and onboarding the team onto Salesforce (be able to take a case from start to finish in Salesforce).
• Assist with drafting temporary need statements for Case Managers.
• Review current metrics and identify additional data that could be helpful for managing our business.
• Assist with expansion of msLabors offerings.
• Manage a small group of managers case managers and/or paralegals.

Why msLabor

Our business is at the intersection of labor international relations business and government affairs. Our core mission is saving American businesses and msLabor is the national leader in our industry. Each year we help thousands of businesses secure a capable reliable legal seasonal workforce by helping them navigate complex government approval processes. Our closeknit team deals with government bureaucrats so our clients can focus on what they do best running their businesses. Our work is challenging but rewarding as we deliver wins on behalf of business owners and help them stay compliant in a heavyregulated environment.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 10 years of work experience in a legal setting
• Bachelors Degree from an accredited college or university
• Must have a JD and a valid license in any U.S. state to practice law.
• 10 Years of Immigration law experience preferably including H2A/H2B/EB3
• Excellent interpersonal skills (written and verbal)
• Legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship

Job Type: FullTime

Pay: Commensurate with experience

Benefits: 401(k) matching Health insurance Dental and Vision insurance Health savings account (*with certain plans) Life insurance Parental leave and Paid time off

Remote Work :

No