Cupertino is a small residential city defined by one company more than any other city in California. Apple Inc. has been headquartered here since 1977, and Apple Park — the ring-shaped campus that opened in 2017 — houses around 12,000 people, with more than 30 further Apple buildings around town and the original Infinite Loop campus still in use. De Anza College is the city's second-largest employer, and Seagate, Amazon Lab126, Claris, and SugarCRM keep offices here, but Apple is the story: most Cupertino residents work at Apple or commute to the campuses nearby — Google in Mountain View, NVIDIA in Santa Clara. The immigration cases I handle for Cupertino come from people who work on Apple teams, people leaving Apple, and ex-Apple founders — and from people who live in Cupertino and work elsewhere in the Valley.
For Employers and Startups in Cupertino
Apple dominates Cupertino's employment the way no single company dominates any other city in California. The work here is usually H-1B registrations in the March window, transfers for engineers moving between companies, and PERM cases for people who have been with the company long enough to start the green card process — and, for engineers and designers from Apple's offices abroad, L-1A transfers into Cupertino. One thing I tell every Cupertino employer the same way: plan the case before the hire is urgent. The sooner we map it out, the better it goes.
People working for the smaller employers here — Seagate, Amazon Lab126, Claris, and the supplier and vendor firms around Apple — come to me with the same questions, at smaller scale: an H-1B here, an O-1 for an engineer with a record that stands out, a transfer for someone joining from abroad. And many of my Cupertino clients do not work in Cupertino at all. They live here — often for the schools — and work at Google, NVIDIA, Intel, or a startup in Palo Alto or Sunnyvale. Immigration is a federal practice, so where the job sits does not change the case; what matters is the employer, the role, and the person's record.
For Founders Near Cupertino
Cupertino is not a startup town the way Palo Alto is — there are fewer young companies headquartered here, and no Sand Hill Road. But founders live here, and Apple alumni start companies all over the Valley. If you are a founder, your immigration status and your company are the same problem. Owning shares in a U.S. company, or investing in one, is not permission to work for it. Coding, hiring, selling, and running the company day to day is work — even unpaid — and doing it without work authorization can damage future visas and green cards. The path that fits depends on the founder: O-1A for a founder with a strong record of achievement, E-2 for a founder from a treaty country investing in the company, L-1A for a founder expanding an existing foreign company, or EB-5 for investment plus job creation toward a green card. Which one fits is decided on the facts, not on which one sounds fastest.
For Researchers and Scientists Near Cupertino
Engineers on Apple's hardware, silicon, and artificial intelligence teams build exactly the kind of record that EB-1A and EB-2 NIW cases are built on: patents, published work, citations, and contributions other people in the field rely on. Engineers here often come to me after an H-1B has carried them for a few years and they are ready to look at a green card they can file themselves. The test is not whether the work is impressive in the abstract — it is whether the evidence meets the specific criteria, and whether the record as a whole shows the person is among the small percentage at the top of the field, or that their work is in the national interest under Dhanasar. I look at the actual record before saying either is the right case.
How a Case Proceeds
Every case starts the same way: you tell me what you are working on, through the contact form, and I reply in writing, focusing on the issues involved. If it looks like a case I can take on, we map out the path — which category, what evidence is needed, and what the timing looks like — before anything is filed. Immigration is a federal practice, so I handle Cupertino cases the same way I handle cases anywhere in the United States: the same rules, the same forms, the same care. Being based in Menlo Park means I know the employers, the investors, and the research institutions my clients work for, and I know what their cases usually turn on.
Why a Named Principal Matters
When a company hires an immigration lawyer, it is usually buying a name it cannot see and a team it will never meet. Here you deal with me directly — Paul M. Heller, principal and founder, 30+ years in practice. I have advised designated school officials at Stanford and UC Berkeley, and I have represented companies and the individuals they hire, from first registration through green card. The advice is mine, and so is the responsibility for it.
This firm is not an H-1B mill, and it never has been. I don't crunch out cookie-cutter cases for large companies — the same petition, copied a hundred times. I work with large companies too, but every case is built around the person in it: their record, their history, their timing. Each matter is given individual attention. These days, USCIS scrutinizes every single matter to the utmost degree — and that is exactly where this way of working pays off: a case built around the person, with the record to support it, holds up under that scrutiny.
If you came here looking for an immigration attorney in Cupertino, you are in the right place. I am an immigration lawyer and attorney serving Cupertino and the surrounding Bay Area, and every case below is the work I actually do here.
Your Attorney
I am Paul M. Heller, Esq. — Principal Attorney & Founder, Heller Immigration Law Group, with 30+ years practicing U.S. immigration law in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, and throughout the United States. Immigration is a federal practice. Designated School Officials at Stanford & UC Berkeley have turned to me for advice, as stated on the firm homepage.
Service Area and Replies
I am based in Menlo Park, CA — I reply in writing, and I handle cases throughout the U.S. because immigration is federal.
Other cities served: Menlo Park, Palo Alto, San Francisco, San Jose, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Redwood City, Fremont, San Mateo, Milpitas, Los Angeles.
Tell me what you are working on and I will reply in writing, focusing on the issues involved. No phone number and no street address are published on this site.
General information, not legal advice. Requirements and processing change; we confirm current rules for your case.