Kyle Knapp

Kyle A. Knapp is an experienced immigration attorney. He earned his law degree from Capital University Law School in 1998 and is licensed to practice in Ohio and Florida.

Law practice. Kyle concentrates his practice on helping organizations hire individuals who are not U.S. citizens. He also advises organizations on the requirements to ensure that all of their employees have authorization to work in the United States. The former sometimes is referred to as "visa processing," while the latter is referred to as "I-9 compliance."   Additionally, Kyle assists individuals with naturalization applications for U.S. citizenship and with family-based immigration cases to sponsor relatives for lawful permanent resident status.

Areas of expertise. The U.S. immigration laws have become increasingly complex. Kyle parses through statutes, regulations and agency guidance and explains to organizations in simple terms what steps they must follow to hire individuals who are not U.S. citizens. His areas of expertise include a wide range of nonimmigrant (i.e. temporary) and immigrant (i.e. green card or permanent resident) visas. In the nonimmigrant category, he has extensive experience with B/Visa Waiver (visitors for business or pleasure), E (treaty traders and investors), F (students), H (specialty occupation workers for individuals with relevant college degrees), J (exchange visitors), L (intracompany transferees from affiliate organizations abroad), O (individuals of extraordinary ability), R (ministers) and TN (professional workers from Canada and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement).

Clients. In the immigrant category, Kyle has helped organizations and individuals apply for green cards through the labor certification process (called PERM), priority worker petitions (extraordinary ability, outstanding researcher/professor, multinational manager), and religious worker petitions. The various occupations have included information technology professionals, scientists, engineers, financial analysts, university professors, nurses, physicians, ministers, social workers, psychologist, and managers and executives.

Consulting. As part of his I-9 compliance work, Kyle advises human resources professionals on the requirements to document the work authorization of new employees and avoid discriminating against individuals based upon national origin or citizenship status. The I-9 form is deceptively complex, and Kyle helps those involved in preparing and maintaining it understand its nuances and comply with regulatory requirements.

Find Kyle at www.knapplawco.com.