Biglaw

Goodwin Associates Who Lost The Visa Lottery Lost Their Job

Without an H-1B visa, the associates have to transition out of the firm.

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Each year, we endeavor to hire the best candidates to join our first-year class. Sometimes, these candidates do not hold visas to work in the United States beyond their first year, during which they remain on an Optional Practical Training (OPT) student visa, sponsored by their U.S. law school for up to 12 months post-graduation.

The firm sponsors these individuals in their efforts to secure an H-1B visa through a lottery program, which is administered each Spring by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). For our incoming first-year associates, we make this effort during the Spring of their third year of law school and then again in the Spring of their first year as associates. The annual H-1B lottery is run by USCIS, and we do not have any say in the selection process. Individuals who are not selected in the lottery, lose their authorization to work in the United States when their OPT expires early in the Summer of that year.

Unfortunately, we recently learned that eight associates in our first-year class were not selected in the lottery and will lose their authorization to work in the United States, meaning that we will no longer be permitted to legally employ them in the United States. We are working with each of these associates to identify whether there are viable, alternative near-term visa paths for them. After consulting with immigration counsel, we do not expect to successfully identify any near-term alternatives for most of these associates, so they will be leaving the firm. Separately, three first-year associates were successful in the lottery.

We do not believe that it is viable to transfer the impacted individuals to any of our offices in Europe or Asia, where they would need to continue to be staffed on U.S.-based work, and where they – as U.S.-trained first-year associates – would not have the same access to U.S.-based work and professional development opportunities as they would in the United States, where they were trained and hired. None of the impacted associates is trained to do local work in any jurisdiction outside of the United States where we have an office.

Our principal focus now is to help the impacted individuals. During their transition period, which will run until late June, they will continue to have access to their current benefits, including health care coverage. We are providing them with access to our immigration counsel, and we are offering them career transition coaching, outplacement support, and alumni coaching. We are also offering to sponsor them in the H-1B lottery in 2024.

We recognize that this is a stressful situation for our international first-year associates, who have sacrificed a lot, worked very hard, and may now have to leave the United States, where they have been building a life and a career. Unfortunately, the H-1B process is entirely out of our control.

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