Huddleston Law Group PLLC is pleased to announce that Kristen Castro has joined the firm as an Associate in the Dallas office.

“We are very excited to have Kristen join our team,” said firm founder Brent Huddleston.  “We know our clients will appreciate her enthusiasm and work ethic.”

Kristen will focus her practice on family, employment, and investment-based immigration. Prior to joining Huddleston Law Group, Kristen practiced as a student attorney at the University of Arkansas School of Law’s Immigration Clinic where she successfully represented foreign national clients in their submission of immigration applications.

Kristen received her B.A. in Political Science with minors in both business and legal studies from the University of Arkansas in 2015, and her J.D. from the University of Arkansas in 2018. While in law school, she served as Vice-President of the Hispanic Law Student Association and received the Clinical Legal Education Association’s Outstanding Clinical Student of the Year for her diligent representation of clients in the school’s legal clinic. Kristen is licensed to practice in the State of Texas as well as the Federal Court of the Northern District of Texas. She is conversationally fluent in Spanish.

Founded in 2017, Huddleston Law Group provides comprehensive immigration services to businesses, individuals, and families. Our clients have big goals and our job is to help make sure that immigration concerns don’t stand in their way. Our attorneys have represented Fortune 500 corporations in hiring, retaining, and obtaining employment authorization for foreign nationals. We have filed numerous successful petitions for employment authorization for degreed professionals and top artists and entertainers, and with our help, foreign investors have been able to start new businesses in the U.S. and acquire permanent residence. We have also helped individuals successfully petition for green cards for their relatives.

HLG founder Brent Huddleston enjoyed speaking about immigration concerns in real estate transactions at the Texas Association of REALTORS® 2018 Winter Meeting last week. From the event recap:

“At the International Forum, immigration attorney Brent Huddleston explained the impact of immigration status on property transactions. Huddleston gave an overview of different visa types, including EB-5 investor visas that were the subject of questions from Texas REALTORS® in attendance. He also advised that recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), or Dreamers, should designate power of attorney to a person with legal status in the country to handle any property transactions should they be deported.”

A great organization and event with excellent questions from the participants!

HLG founder Brent Huddleston recently spoke with members of the MetroTex Association of REALTORS regarding immigration issues that can pop up during real estate transactions involving foreign nationals.  Established in 1917, MetroTex is the largest real estate trade association in North Texas.

HLG’s founder Brent Huddleston spoke last month at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”) Texas, Oklahoma, & New Mexico Chapter Fall Conference. He is the AILA liaison to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) office at DFW Airport (the third-busiest airport in the world), and shared insights gained in that role with Conference attendees.  CBP policies change frequently and are often enforced differently from port to port, so Brent is happy to have an inside look at entry and enforcement trends and issues at DFW Airport, to share that with his clients and colleagues, and to bring their concerns to CBP.

Beginning 10/1/17, USCIS will begin phasing in in-person interviews for employment-based adjustment of status applications (I-485 applications filed with/after I-140 petitions). Previously in-person interviews were waived for these applicants due to the thorough background checks they undergo and the low incidence of fraud in employment-based cases.

The new interview requirement will apply even to multinational executives and managers and will likely cause adjudication delays for all employment-based applicants.

USCIS says the change was implemented in compliance with Executive Order 13780, “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.”