Former USCIS Attorneys, Now on Your Side of the File
Whitaker & Warburton was founded by two attorneys who spent their careers inside U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Kristin helped write the standard that governs National Interest Waivers. Melissa advised the officers who adjudicate employment-based petitions and defended the agency's decisions in federal court. They built this firm to bring that knowledge to the other side of the file.
At the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office, Kristin was part of the team that crafted and implemented Matter of Dhanasar, the decision that governs every National Interest Waiver filed today.
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Melissa spent her career at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services doing the work that decides cases like yours, advising the officers who adjudicate employment-based petitions and serving as agency counsel on hundreds of federal litigation cases.
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We take a limited number of matters so that each one gets real attention. You will know the people working on your case, and they will know your record.
April spent 28 years at USCIS, adjudicating employment-based petitions and serving as Branch Chief of the Threat Assessment Branch. She works on case development and evidence strategy directly.
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Kim is the first person most clients speak with. She guides clients through the forms and documents a case requires, handles intake and scheduling, and keeps clients current on where their matter stands.
Natalie manages the firm's accounts and billing, and supports file review and exhibit preparation across active matters.
Jeimi supports petition preparation, exhibit assembly, and case file management across the firm's active matters.
A Boutique Firm, by Design
We are a small boutique firm that prides itself on individualized attention to every matter we handle. That is how we work, and it means we are not able to take every client who asks us to.
Before we accept a case, we review it honestly and give you candid feedback on the viability of your profile. If the evidence is not there yet, we will tell you, and we will tell you what would change that.
When we do take a case, it is built against the review it will actually receive. Every petition is read the way an officer will read it, and every criterion is tested against what the evidence in the file will support. If a decision comes back that cannot be reconciled with that record, we are prepared to challenge it in federal court.