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Education

  • 2024, M.S. in Homeland Security Studies, (Homeland Security and Defense), Magna Cum Laude, Naval Postgraduate School
  • 2000, Masters level certificate in Teaching English as a Second/Other Language (TESOL), University of Texas at Arlington
  • 1995, B.S. in Secondary English Education, Magna Cum Laude, Phillips University
  • 1995, B.A. in French, Magna Cum Laude, Phillips University

Languages

  • French (intermediate proficiency)
  • Spanish (novice)

April Padilla

Immigration Consultant | Former USCIS Officer

April Padilla has more than 28 years of experience as a USCIS Officer.  April began her career at the Immigration Naturalization Service (now USCIS) where she served as an Adjudications Officer, specializing in immigrant and non-immigrant petition adjudication. As an Adjudications Officer at USCIS, April adjudicated thousands of family-based I-130 applications and employment-based nonimmigrant and immigrant petitions, including H-1B, L, E, EB-1A, EB-1B, and EB-2 NIWs.  April is an expert in assessing and reviewing O-1, EB-1 and NIW initial filings as well as RFEs and NOID/NOIRs.   

After serving as an Adjudications Officer for many years, in 2008, a promotion led her to Service Center Operations (SCOPS) Headquarters where she served as a Policy Officer in the Threat Assessment Branch.  She was named the Branch Chief of the SCOPS Fraud Detection Operations Branch in 2013.  April introduced streamlined workflows that increased efficiency and reduced redundancy, delivering measurable results for complex national programs. She also played a leading role in fraud prevention, fraud detection, and compliance coordination with the Department of State and Department of Labor. April last served as Division Chief for the Security Fraud Division at SCOPS, leading a portfolio focused on fraud prevention, fraud detection, risk assessment, and compliance.

April also completed a one-year detail to the U.S. Senate where she served as a USCIS Policy Analyst for the majority party on the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship and Border Safety.  She collaborated with Counsel to manage immigration related priorities and conducted legal and legislative analysis of proposed language on bills and amendments from government and non-governmental sources.

Why do I practice U.S. immigration law?

April became interested in immigration after serving as a student liaison and tutor in the Transition Assistance Program for students from Phillips University’s sister university in Japan.  She also studied for a summer in France where she met a diverse group of students from all over the world, which led to her appreciation of multiple cultures and diversity.