Important Updates
Important Updates
July 3, 2025 | United StatesUnited States: Congress Passes Budget Reconciliation Bill with Immigration Impact
July 3, 2025 | CanadaCanada: Ontario Implements Key Reforms to the Immigrant Nominee Program
July 3, 2025 | CanadaCanada: Québec Reopens Skilled Worker Program and Unveils Selection Criteria
July 3, 2025 | United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates: Temporary Pause on Issuing Freelance Visas
July 3, 2025 | United KingdomUnited Kingdom: Migration Advisory Committee to Assess Salary Thresholds, Temporary Shortage List Occupations
July 3, 2025 | United StatesUnited States: Congress Passes Budget Reconciliation Bill with Immigration Impact
July 3, 2025 | CanadaCanada: Ontario Implements Key Reforms to the Immigrant Nominee Program
July 3, 2025 | CanadaCanada: Québec Reopens Skilled Worker Program and Unveils Selection Criteria
July 3, 2025 | United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates: Temporary Pause on Issuing Freelance Visas
July 3, 2025 | United KingdomUnited Kingdom: Migration Advisory Committee to Assess Salary Thresholds, Temporary Shortage List Occupations
July 3, 2025 | United StatesUnited States: Congress Passes Budget Reconciliation Bill with Immigration Impact
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Sophia Michelle Goring-Piard

Partner

Sophia Goring-Piard

Sophia Michelle Goring-Piard
Sophia Michelle Goring-Piard
  • People

Partner

Sophia Goring-Piard

Country / Territory

  • United StatesUnited States

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  • English

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Email

[email protected]

T:+1 212 909 4120

F:+1 212 480 9930

San Francisco, CA

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP

555 Montgomery St, 4th Floor

San Francisco CA 94111

United States

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Get in touch

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  • English

Contact information

Email

[email protected]

T:+1 212 909 4120

F:+1 212 480 9930

San Francisco, CA

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP

555 Montgomery St, 4th Floor

San Francisco CA 94111

United States

Connect via Linkedin

Get in touch

Languages

  • English

Contact information

Email

[email protected]

T:+1 212 909 4120

F:+1 212 480 9930

San Francisco, CA

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP

555 Montgomery St, 4th Floor

San Francisco CA 94111

United States

Connect via Linkedin
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Sophia has served as a dedicated business immigration advisor to clients of every size and stripe for more than 20 years.

She has built her practice around three core principles:

  • Proactive advice based on government and industry intelligence. Sophia helps clients forecast necessary changes to their immigration programs in response to shifts in government policy, geopolitical conflict and economic pressure. She helps clients adjust internal policy, program management and workforce communications to anticipate and take advantage of developments others might miss.
  • Exceptional employee experience. Regardless of the size of their workforce or the volume of their caseload, clients rely on Sophia to maintain a responsive and respectful approach to individual employees. She partners with key stakeholders to understand employee culture through constant exchange of ideas and feedback. Sophia is especially attuned to the rapidly evolving communications tools used by employees and draws on this familiarity to develop communication strategies that counter misinformation, facilitate participation and reduce dissatisfaction.
  • Flexible, data-driven program design and diagnosis. Sophia dives deep into client and industry data to create new immigration programs for her clients—or to revitalize and streamline their existing efforts. By evaluating pain and pressure points, including lag time and success rates, she helps clients adjust resource allocation and increase transparency. She leverages her capacious industry experience to introduce clients to best practices from outside their sector.

    She also helps companies on the cusp of major growth to transform their current, bespoke immigration framework into full-blown programs handling hundreds or thousands of employees—a key factor in removing impediments to expansion.

Her specific capabilities include, but are not limited to, temporary visas, PERM programs, EB-1 petitions and National Interest Waivers. Her industry experience embraces high technology; telecommunications; banking, finance and asset management; and professional service providers, among others.

A dedicated pro bono attorney, Sophia has represented individuals in asylum and removal proceedings, family-based cases, special immigrant juvenile petitions, U-visa applications, VAWA self-petitions, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) issues and general immigration consultations. She is proudest of her work on behalf of a woman from Burkina Faso who was facing removal proceedings and for whom she helped secure asylum protection and permanent resident status.

Sophia is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, through which she engages in leadership development, service and community work.

Her specific capabilities include, but are not limited to, temporary visas, PERM programs, EB-1 petitions and National Interest Waivers. Her industry experience embraces high technology; telecommunications; banking, finance and asset management; and professional service providers, among others.

A dedicated pro bono attorney, Sophia has represented individuals in asylum and removal proceedings, family-based cases, special immigrant juvenile petitions, U-visa applications, VAWA self-petitions, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) issues and general immigration consultations. She is proudest of her work on behalf of a woman from Burkina Faso who was facing removal proceedings and for whom she helped secure asylum protection and permanent resident status.

Sophia is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, through which she engages in leadership development, service and community work.

Education

  • Fordham University School of Law, J.D., 2000
  • Washington University in St. Louis, B.A., 1994

More from Sophia

Admissions

Bar Admissions: New York, Massachusetts

Practice Limited to Federal Immigration & Nationality Law

Awards

Listed in Best Lawyers in America, 2012 to 2025

Listed in Crain’s New York Business’s Notable Black Leaders, 2022

Stein Scholar in Public Interest Law and Ethics, Fordham University School of Law, 1997 to 2000

Thurgood Marshall Fellowship, City Bar Justice Center’s Immigrant Women and Children Project, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 1999

Professional accomplishments

Member, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)

Member, New York State Bar Association, Commercial and Federal Litigation – Committee on Immigration Litigation

Member, Metropolitan Black Bar Association

Publications and lectures

Speaker, “Keynote Panel – State of Mobility.” 2025 Bay Area Mobility Management Annual Mobility Conference, San Francisco, CA, 13 February 2025.

Speaker, “Navigating the Corporate Climb: Lessons from Women at the Top.” Women of Color in Pharma (WOCIP) 8th Annual Conference, Scottsdale, AZ, 10 November 2024.

Sophia’s insights

August 19, 2024 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 31st Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

August 17, 2023 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 30th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

March 28, 2023 | Media mentions

Mobility Magazine: How State Wage Transparency Laws May Impact Green Card SponsorshipRead more
More related insights

Sophia’s insights

August 19, 2024 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 31st Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

August 17, 2023 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 30th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

March 28, 2023 | Media mentions

Mobility Magazine: How State Wage Transparency Laws May Impact Green Card SponsorshipRead more
More related insights

Sophia’s insights

August 19, 2024 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 31st Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

August 17, 2023 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 30th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

March 28, 2023 | Media mentions

Mobility Magazine: How State Wage Transparency Laws May Impact Green Card SponsorshipRead more
More related insights

Country / Territory

  • United StatesUnited States

Get in touch

Languages

  • English

Contact information

Email

[email protected]

T:+1 212 909 4120

F:+1 212 480 9930

San Francisco, CA

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP

555 Montgomery St, 4th Floor

San Francisco CA 94111

United States

Connect via Linkedin

Sophia’s insights

August 19, 2024 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 31st Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

August 17, 2023 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 30th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

March 28, 2023 | Media mentions

Mobility Magazine: How State Wage Transparency Laws May Impact Green Card SponsorshipRead more
More related insights

Share

  • Twitter
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Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Get in touch

Languages

  • English

Contact information

Email

[email protected]

T:+1 212 909 4120

F:+1 212 480 9930

San Francisco, CA

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP

555 Montgomery St, 4th Floor

San Francisco CA 94111

United States

Connect via Linkedin

Sophia’s insights

August 19, 2024 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 31st Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

August 17, 2023 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 30th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

March 28, 2023 | Media mentions

Mobility Magazine: How State Wage Transparency Laws May Impact Green Card SponsorshipRead more
More related insights

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Get in touch

Languages

  • English

Contact information

Email

[email protected]

T:+1 212 909 4120

F:+1 212 480 9930

San Francisco, CA

Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP

555 Montgomery St, 4th Floor

San Francisco CA 94111

United States

Connect via Linkedin

Sophia’s insights

August 19, 2024 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 31st Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

August 17, 2023 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 30th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

March 28, 2023 | Media mentions

Mobility Magazine: How State Wage Transparency Laws May Impact Green Card SponsorshipRead more
More related insights

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Explore more at Fragomen

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The 11th Seat: Timor-Leste's ASEAN Debut and the Shifting Map of Regional Mobility

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