Erik Anderson directs our Immigrant Visa Practice, overseeing the development of case strategies to address the recruitment and transfer of human resources in the United States and overseas. In this role he provides strategic immigration planning to clients in the information technology, telecommunications, biotech, insurance and finance, healthcare, maritime, food and beverage and entertainment industries. He also directs the firm's nonimmigrant and immigrant (EB-5) investor visa programs, as well as our individual and family-based immigration practice areas.
Erik's innovative and progressive techniques have enabled clients to effectively develop cost-effective, long-term strategies to secure and retain talented resources in the United States and abroad. To this end, Erik has successfully developed strategies to avoid recent obstacles and cost increases associated with temporary business-based visa categories. These strategies have simultaneously reduced overhead and increased employee retention for multinational organizations.
Erik is an active speaker on strategic immigration planning, providing lectures to employers, employees and industry groups. He is also a frequent author of work ranging from legal guides to articles, amicus briefs and regular contributions to the firm's publications. He is also an experienced consultant to government contractors.
Prior to entering private practice, Erik was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Board of Alien Labor Certification at the U.S. Department of Labor, and today he routinely handles matters before that agency, as well as United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and the U.S. Department of State.
Honors and Awards
- The Best Lawyers in America*
- Who's Who Legal: Corporate Immigration**
Professional Memberships
- American Immigration Lawyers Association
Bar Admissions
- District of Columbia
- Maryland
- United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Education
- J.D., The American University, Washington College of Law, 1993
- B.A., Government and Politics, Fairfield University, 1990
Judicial Clerkship
- Law Clerk to the Honorable John M. Vittone (ret.), Chief Judge, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Administrative Law Judges, Washington, D.C.
*The Best Lawyers in America® . Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 39,000 leading attorneys cast almost 3.1 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers "the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice."
**A publication of Law Business Research Ltd., London, U.K.
Representative Cases
- Secured reversal of USCIS revocation of an already approved I-140 Immigrant Visa Petition filed on behalf of a large multinational corporation for a key business development manager.
- Successfully petitioned USCIS for an EB-1 extraordinary ability alien petition for a business executive in lieu of a multinational manager petition.
- Obtained an O-1 visa for an international radio personality on behalf of a television and radio broadcast giant.
- Obtained a National Interest Waiver (NIW) for a business development manager for a defense contractor.
- Secured reversal of USCIS denial of an EB-1 multinational manager petition on behalf of a large multinational corporation.
- Reversed several I-140 Immigrant Visa denials for a corporate client whose prior counsel filed USCIS filing fee checks with insufficient funds.
- Reversed approximately 200 PERM denials for employer whose recruitment was deemed inadequate by the U.S. Department of Labor.
- Successfully filed EB-1 Outstanding Researcher petition for Land Information Systems Software (LIS) developer.
- Successfully secured E-2 Investor Visa for Canadian chef who opened a U.S. restaurant.
- Secured termination of removal proceeding for information technology (IT) professional.