Senior Associate
Monica M. Bathija
Country / Territory
Get in touch
Languages
- English
- Hindi
Contact information
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP
2755 Orchard Pkwy
San Jose CA 95134
United States
Monica is a Senior Associate at Fragomen’s Silicon Valley office with more than 15 years of immigration experience. Monica partners with clients on U.S.-inbound immigrant and nonimmigrant visa matters. She has experience providing clients and their employees with creative legal solutions on complex immigration matters, analyzing legislative changes to the immigration landscape and educating global mobility teams on how to make strategic improvements to their immigration policies.
Prior to joining Fragomen, Monica was an Associate at various firms in California.
Monica has provided pro bono services through her previous role as a pro bono immigration attorney at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), where she represented unaccompanied immigrant children in immigration removal proceedings, including children eligible for asylum, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and U and T visas. Monica was also a pro bono immigration attorney at the South Asian Bar Association, where she advised on the preparation and filing of immigrant visa petitions, as well as applications for adjustment of status, asylum, naturalization and other administrative applications.
Monica speaks English and Hindi.
Education
- University of San Francisco School of Law, J.D., 2009
- University of California, Los Angeles, B.S., 2003
More from Monica
Admissions
Bar Admissions: California
Practice Limited to Federal Immigration & Nationality Law
Professional accomplishments
Former Member, Nebraska Service Center Liaison Committee, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
Former Member, Online Resources Task Force, AILA
Experience
Provided innovative foreign national hiring, retention and compliance solutions to corporate clients.
Developed an immigration program and solutions for an S&P 500 corporate client with significant immigration needs.
Managed high-volume corporate immigration caseloads, including PERM labor certification applications, employment- and family-based immigrant visa petitions, consular processing, adjustment of status applications, reentry permits, naturalization applications and nonimmigrant visa issues.
Played a key role in advising entrepreneurs, emerging companies and well-established smaller companies on various matters, including work visas, permanent residency, corporate changes due to mergers and acquisitions and governmental compliance issues related to foreign workers.
Prepared and delivered monthly client townhalls on immigration hot topics and participated in weekly office hours with client employees.
Led complex projects, including the immigration aspects of mergers and acquisitions, and the revamping of internal immigrant and nonimmigrant visa policies and processes.
Publications and lectures
Speaker, “Business Litigation.” AILA 2017 Annual Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, June 2017.
Credited in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) memorandum for setting binding USCIS policy on the use of provisional degree certificates for post-graduate experience cases. Decision in an appeal brought on behalf of a computer software business was used as the basis for a policy memorandum issues by the USCIS. The memorandum is now binding on all USCIS personnel.
