• To provide the highest level of service possible so as to set the standard for what companies from around the world expect from a top business immigration law firm.
  
  
• To exceed customer's expectations with regard to the timeliness of work performed and responsiveness to questions asked.
  
  
• To develop a relationship with clients that will allow clients to feel comfortable that their and their employees’ immigration needs are being met in the safest manner possible, while still maintaining the business goals and needs of the company.
  
  
• To provide educational services to clients in the form of immigration updates and free webinars to minimize the chance that clients will commit an error that will expose itself or its employees to liability.

Immigration law is 50% law and 50% human nature.

Immigration matters must be presented in a

manner that is persuasive, yet easily understood by the

immigration or border officer who is reviewing the application.

If an immigration officer cannot understand an application,

he or she will be inclined to deny the application.

• Short- and long-term business visas for moving employees across international boundaries.
• U.S. investor visas for both immigrants and non-immigrants.
• U.S. intra-company transfer visas between existing and newly-established multinational corporations.
• U.S. work permits and other “professional” visas (such as the H-1B and E-2 visas).
• Permanent residency green card applications for foreign workers who wish to remain indefinitely in the U.S.  This includes permanent residency applications for foreign nationals who marry U.S. citizens.
• Naturalization applications for foreign nationals wishing to become U.S. citizens.
• Defense of companies against law suits brought by the government or employees alleging violations of U.S. immigration laws.
  
  

• Individual investors and business owners.
• Small to multinational corporations.
• Professionals seeking to work or establish a business within the United States.
• IT Technology firms.
• Manufacturing companies.
• Architectural and other design-oriented firms.
• Hospitals and medical practices.
• Dental practices.
• Import/export companies.
• Private utility companies.
  
  

Thompson Immigration has specialized its practice in one field of immigration law; namely, employment-based immigration law. This fact is a critical distinction for clients who are seeking immigration counsel. The reason is that very few immigration law firms specialize in employment-based immigration.

U.S. immigration law is a complex and ever-changing field of law. Indeed, many of the regulatory policies enacted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and other immigration agencies are not promulgated through a formal rule making process, but rather through policy memos that are not published. By limiting its range of practice, Thompson Immigration can assure its clients that it is knowledgeable about every new issue arising in this complex field of law.

• Most immigration law firms handle all types of immigration matters, including family-based immigration, asylum, refugees, removals (i.e., deportations), and essentially any other type of case that walks in the door.
  
  
• On the other extreme is the large corporate law firm that has only one or two immigration attorneys on staff. These attorneys rarely practice immigration law on a full-time basis, and oftentimes practice immigration law only as a courtesy to the firm’s large corporate clients. As such, it is difficult for them to keep up with the myriad changes that occur on a monthly and even weekly basis in the immigration field. Those large firm attorneys that do practice immigration law on a full-time basis generally provide limited services to one or two large corporate clients.
  
  
• This leaves a small percentage of immigration lawyers that specialize in employment-based immigration. Of these, most do not have litigation experience. Moreover, there are only a handful of lawyers in the entire United States that handle immigration matters to countries other than the United States.
  
  

Thompson Immigration has always used cutting edge technology in its practice, and continues to “push the envelope” in this area. Thompson Immigration was one of the first law firms in the United States to effectively use the Internet as a marketing platform.  Other examples of how Thompson Immigration is using cutting edge technology include the following:

• Like all law firms, Thompson Immigration uses the telephone, email and Skype for communicating with its clients.
  
  
• However, Thompson Immigration goes beyond this approach by allowing clients to upload documents directly to Thompson Immigration's local (not cloud-based) secure server.  Because of this, there is little or no time delay or extra cost associated with either providing documentation to Thompson Immigration or vice versa.  This is especially useful for overseas clients.  Using a local server also helps ensure that our clients' data is secure and safe from the random hacking attempts that regularly occur with commercial cloud-based services.
  
  
• Because Thompson Immigration could not find any commercially available immigration forms software that provided the flexibility desired, Thompson Immigration developed its own software platform from which it prepares all of its clients’ immigration forms.  Through this proprietary software system, Thompson Immigration can prepare customized Data Information Sheets that fit the specific needs of each client.
  
  

Thompson Immigration is a sole proprietorship established under the laws of the State of Washington. The principal of Thompson Immigration Law Associates, P. Robert Thompson, Esq., has been a practicing attorney since 1989. He has practiced exclusively employment-based immigration law since 1996. Mr. Thompson is one of just a handful of U.S. attorneys who is experienced in global immigration matters. Mr. Thompson has handled business migration matters to over 30 countries.

Mr. Thompson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1982. After working in the chemical industry for three years, Mr. Thompson attended law school at the George Washington National Law Center, in Washington, D.C. This law school was ranked as the 12th best law school in the United States. Mr. Thompson worked full-time while attending law school at night. During this time, Mr. Thompson worked on Capitol Hill for a lobbyist group regarding forestry issues. He also spent two years with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drafting regulations regarding existing chemicals in the chemical industry.

After law school graduation, Mr. Thompson worked for eight years in the Washington, D.C. area as a trial lawyer and environmental lawyer. In 1996, he joined a small immigration firm and fell in love with the practice of immigration law. He has practiced employment-based immigration law exclusively since that time. In 1998, Mr. Thompson convinced a Midwest law firm to open a West Coast office in Seattle. Mr. Thompson managed this office until 2002, when he bought out the office and started Thompson Immigration Law Associates.

Mr. Thompson has been a member of numerous immigration and business/trade associations, including:

• American Immigration Lawyer's Association.
• District of Columbia Bar.
• Maryland State Bar.
• International Who's Who of Entrepreneurs.
• National Register’s Who’s Who of Executive and Professionals.
• Society of Human Resource Managers.
• Northwest Recruiters Association.
• Northwest Entrepreneurs Network.
• World Trade Center.
• Foundation for Russian American Economic Cooperation.
• Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle.