"Coming to America"

"Coming to America," the phrase which has symbolized the centuries-old yearning by so many to seek a new and better life here, has been the driving force and inspiration of my professional career as an immigration attorney. For nearly twenty-eight years, I have worked with countless businessmen, entrepreneurs, investors, professionals, artists, religious workers, students, refugees, and families to assist them to achieve their goals of immigrating to the United States.

The Law Offices of Saldin Friedberg & Trombi is comprised of a team of highly dedicated lawyers and legal assistants whose primary goal is to provide our clients with the highest level of professional legal services. At our firm, we value the differences which each client and case presents, and our staff is skilled in a number of foreign languages including Spanish, Chinese Vietnamese, and Japanese. We pride ourselves in, not only our legal experience and expertise, but also in the honest and straightforward sharing of information with our clients. We consider the client to be a critical partner in the process, and we understand that we can achieve our goals more easily when we collaborate with our client.

It will be my goal in these regular articles to introduce the reader to the different types of cases which our firm handles. We will discuss the different types of visas available under the U.S. visa law, and we will highlight the latest changes in this rapidly-changing field of law.

More of Our Success Stories

Below are more representative examples of the success we've delivered to our clients:

• A woman from China sought immigrant investor status by planning to build a discount store in El Monte, California. One of our attorneys traveled to Guangzhou, China to assist her in person with her application. After a week of helping her overcome obstacles and get the documents through immigration channels, she received her conditional resident visa. Two years later, by demonstrating the success of her business, we helped her obtain a permanent visa.

• A client from El Salvador had lived here illegally for more than a decade. He paid an unscrupulous professional to complete an application for asylum, having been told that this would lead to permanent resident status. He faced deportation when his application was rejected. We proved that his mentally disabled son would suffer severe hardship if the father were deported. The judge granted permanent residence.

• A large Japanese company with a U.S. office gave us extremely short notice to obtain a visa for a professional with technical skills. We were able to achieve the results they needed well within their urgent time frame.

• After fleeing the Cambodian genocide, our client went to France while his mother came to the U.S. He later joined her and filed for political asylum, but his sojourn in France voided his application. He came to our offices after his appeal was denied and he had already been slated for deportation. We quickly filed an application based on the United Nations Torture Convention, saving him from deportation, and he eventually obtained permanent residency through his U.S. citizen mother.

Our Success Stories

Below are representative examples of the success we've delivered to our clients:

• The American Embassy in Japan twice denied a visa to a specialty chef with skills essential to the success of a Japanese restaurant being launched on Restaurant Row in Los Angeles. The restaurant corporation's law firm referred the case to us. Through persistence, we overcame the difficulty of gaining access to consular officers and their potential prejudice due to prior denials. We made an irrefutable case regarding the dearth of expert Japanese chefs in the United States. A visa was issued.

• An Iraqi woman was accused of attempting to immigrate through a sham marriage. She and her three children faced deportation. Another law firm referred the case to us. We presented extensive documentation untangling the erroneous information which led to the charge. We persevered and obtained a new interview with immigration officials. The woman and children obtained their greencards.

• A client came here with his family as a child but never became a U.S. citizen. By the age of 40, he had a successful business and a daughter with his ex-wife. He also had a criminal record of domestic violence, for which he was facing deportation. We were able to demonstrate that deporting him would cause extreme hardship for his daughter and elderly parents. Deportation proceedings were canceled. He is now happily remarried and applying for citizenship.

Our Attorneys

Michael Friedberg

Michael's immigrant experience brings a dimension to his work that can't be learned through books. He came to this country with his family at age 10, with minimal English language skills. While attending Southwestern University School of Law, he taught English as a Second Language, and was pleased seeing students' pride in their progress. Based on his own experience and his satisfaction in helping people start a new life, he developed a practice in immigration law and has been practicing for more than 25 years.

Born Munich, Germany; admitted to bar, 1980, California.

Education: University of California at Los Angeles (B.A. 1970); University of Oregon (M.A. 1973); Southwestern University School of Law (J.D. 1980). Phi Beta Kappa.

Member: Los Angeles County Bar Association (Member, Immigration Section), ProVisors.

Reported Cases: Bellajaro v. Schlitgen 378 F 3d 1042 (9th Cir. Aug 6, 2004)

Practice Areas: Immigration Law; Corporate Law; Business Law

Languages: Spanish and Yiddish

Heidy S. Berger-Trombi

Born Oakland, California; admitted to bar, 1994, California.

Education: University of California at Los Angeles (B.A. Political Science and International Relations, 1987); Southwestern University School of Law (J.D. 1992).

Member: Los Angeles County Bar Association (Member, Immigration Section), Bruin Professionals.

Practice Areas: Immigration Law; Adoptions; Guardianship; Family Law.

Languages: Romanian, Spanish, and French.

Mathew K. Ho

Born Oakland, California; admitted to bar, 2006, California.

Education: University of California at Los Angeles (B.A. History, 2002); Southwestern University School of Law (J.D. 2005).

Member: Los Angeles County Bar Association (Member, Immigration Section).

Practice Area: Immigration Law.

Welcome to the Law Offices of Friedberg & Trombi

With more than seventy-five (75) years of combined, specialized legal experience, Friedberg & Trombi is geared toward the foreign individual investor, trader, manufacturer or corporation who intends to invest or engage in business in the United States, as well as those foreign-based investors and corporations who already engage in business in the United States. We also assist foreign individuals and their families to attain residency and/or citizenship in the United States in connection with personal and business planning.

Our clients include major Chinese and Japanese multinational corporations doing business in the United States, as well as many other business entities in the Far East. We provide legal expertise in U.S. visa matters including temporary working visas, investment, trade and business visas, student visas, and permanent visas at the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services offices in the United States and the American Consulates throughout the world. We offer legal expertise in business planning for foreign investors intending to establish investments in the United States and corporate business planning for establishment of U.S. subsidiary and/or branch operations of foreign companies. We also represent clients in deportation and exclusion proceedings.

The firm communicates with our clients in English, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese and Toisanese), Japanese, Vietnamese, and Spanish. As a professional organization providing service to our clients, our aim is to give prompt, efficient and personalized attention to our clients' needs. Our highly trained personnel allow us to provide our clients with fast, accurate and thorough legal service and advice. Thank you for your interest in our law firm.