Palo Alto is often called the birthplace of Silicon Valley — Hewlett and Packard built their first product in a garage here — and the city has never stopped being the centre of it. Stanford University sits just to the west, Stanford Research Park runs along Page Mill Road with more than 150 companies on site, and HP Inc. and VMware are headquartered here. The immigration work I do for Palo Alto clients is shaped by that mix: university researchers, Research Park engineers, and founders whose companies began as Stanford research.
For Employers in Palo Alto
Engineers and specialists in Stanford Research Park — at established names like Lockheed Martin and IDEO and at small research and engineering firms — are hard to replace and harder to recruit. For them, H-1B is usually the first question: registration in March, transfers for people already in the United States, and extensions that keep a key employee working while a green card case moves forward. Larger employers also come to me for PERM — the labour market test that comes before most employer-sponsored green cards — and for I-9 compliance, which is its own discipline and its own risk if it is done casually. If you are an HR team in Palo Alto hiring foreign nationals, tell me the roles and the people early. The cases that go smoothly are the ones planned before the start date is fixed.
For Stanford Researchers, Professors, and Postdocs
Stanford is where more EB-1 and NIW cases begin than almost any other single place I see. Postdoctoral scholars, research scientists, and faculty come with publication records, citation counts, peer review, and letters from people who actually use their work — the raw material of an EB-1A case, an EB-1B case for outstanding professors and researchers, or an EB-2 NIW case under Dhanasar. The question is never whether the work is good. The question is which category fits the record as it stands, and whether the evidence meets the criteria as written. A postdoc with strong citations but no major awards may be a better NIW than an EB-1A; a professor with a named chair and a long record may be a better EB-1B. I read the record and say which it is — and if neither is ready yet, I say what would need to change.
For Founders and Students
Palo Alto founders are often Stanford graduates or former Stanford researchers, and their immigration position is usually tangled up with their student history: F-1, OPT, STEM OPT, and then the question of what comes next. The O-1A fits founders with a record of achievement; the H-1B fits founders whose own company can genuinely employ them under a separate board or governance structure; the E-2 fits founders from treaty countries investing in their company. None of these is automatic, and forming a company does not by itself give work authorization. If you are a student or recent graduate in Palo Alto working out how to stay and build, tell me the full history — the visa you hold now, the company, and what you actually do for it day to day — and I will tell you which paths are real and which are not.
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 Palo Alto cases the same way I handle cases anywhere in the United States. Being a short drive from Stanford and the Research Park means I know the 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 Palo Alto, you are in the right place. I am an immigration lawyer and attorney serving Palo Alto 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.