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Shirley Tang

Partner

Shirley Tang is an immigration attorney who has more than 25 years of experience advising businesses on the recruitment and retention of global talent. She is a strategic resource to national and multinational human resource and talent management professionals in securing work visas (including H-1B, TN, L-1, O-1, and others) and permanent residency (green cards) through employment sponsorship. Her clients include publicly traded companies, startups, and individuals across a broad range of industries including information technology, education, pharmaceuticals, finance, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing.

Shirley has considerable expertise representing companies and high net worth individuals, who are citizens of certain eligible countries, to obtain work visas based on a treaty of commerce and navigation (E-1 Treaty Trader) or a bilateral investment treaty (E-2 Treaty Investor). She assists companies in developing and structuring technical training plans to attract highly skilled interns and trainees from overseas under the J-1 exchange visitor program. Shirley also provides guidance to Human Resource managers on Labor Condition Applications, I- 9 compliance and enforcement issues. She also counsels private educational institutions on compliance with the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which operates under the auspices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Prior to practicing immigration law, Shirley served as an Assistant District Counsel for the legacy Immigration and Naturalization Service in Newark, New Jersey. As such, she was responsible for handling immigration litigation, employer sanctions, IRCA compliance cases and denaturalization cases. She is a frequent speaker on immigration law, delivering presentations at Continuing Legal Education seminars, as well as lectures on pressing immigration topics for the American Immigration Lawyers.

Why do I practice U.S. Immigration Law ?

As a first generation American-born citizen, I grew up observing my immigrant parents endure hardship and sacrifice to ensure that my siblings and I had better opportunities to accomplish our goals. Throughout my career as an immigration lawyer, I have been privileged to help clients transform their lives as they become part of our communities and achieve their American dreams. This is why I am so passionate about the practice of U.S. immigration law.

Education

  • Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, J.D.
  • New York University, BA

Bar Admissions

  • New York
  • New Jersey

Memberships

  • Asia Pacific Chapter of AILA
    • Vice Chair (2024/2025)
    • Chapter Secretary
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)

Languages

  • Conversational Cantonese

Select Speaking Engagements

  • “Child Status Protection Act: Trends and Practice Tips” – 2024 AILA Asia-Pacific Chapter Conference, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, February 2024
  • “Virtual Presentation on Immigration Pathways” – YEP (Your Ethiopian Professional) Network, September 2023
  • “Ethically Advising Clients on the Availability of Public Benefits to Immigrants” – 2023 AILA Annual Conference, Orlando, Florida, June 2023
  • “Family Reunification and Litigation Tools to Resolve Delays” – 2023 AILA Asia-Pacific Chapter Conference, Tokyo, Japan, May 2023
  • “Overview of Visas and Immigration Processes” – YEP (Your Ethiopian Professional) Network, Washington, DC, September 2022
  • “Practice Management, Technology and Marketing” – 2022 AILA Asia-Pacific Chapter Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, May 2022
  • “Immigration and Foreign Recruitment of Healthcare Workers” – 2022 National Association of Rehabilitation Providers and Agencies (NARA), Pre-Conference, Washington, DC, May 2022
  • “Public Charge Rewind: The End of the Thunderdome?” – 2021 AILA Asia-Pacific Chapter Conference (Virtual), Sydney, Australia, May 2021
  • “The Wondrous Art of Ethical Communications” – 2020 AILA Asia-Pacific Chapter Conference, Taipei, Taiwan, February 2020
  • “Tricky Reentry Issues” – 2019 AILA Rome-EMEA Chapter Conference, Berlin, Germany, May 2019
  • “Practice Management in the Buy American Hire American World” – 2018 AILA Rome-EMEA Chapter Conference, Madrid, Spain, March 2018

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