Important Updates
Important Updates
November 26, 2025 | United StatesUnited States: DHS Announces Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti
November 26, 2025 | New ZealandNew Zealand: Proof of Police Clearance Certificate Requests No Longer Accepted for Accredited Employer Work Visas
November 26, 2025 | PeruPeru: Delays in Adjudication of In-Country Visa Applications
November 26, 2025 | SingaporeSingapore: COMPASS Lists of Educational Qualifications and Awarding Institutions Updated for 2026
November 26, 2025 | SwitzerlandSwitzerland: Possible Quotas for Locally-employed Croatian Nationals for 2026
November 26, 2025 | United StatesUnited States: DHS Announces Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti
November 26, 2025 | New ZealandNew Zealand: Proof of Police Clearance Certificate Requests No Longer Accepted for Accredited Employer Work Visas
November 26, 2025 | PeruPeru: Delays in Adjudication of In-Country Visa Applications
November 26, 2025 | SingaporeSingapore: COMPASS Lists of Educational Qualifications and Awarding Institutions Updated for 2026
November 26, 2025 | SwitzerlandSwitzerland: Possible Quotas for Locally-employed Croatian Nationals for 2026
November 26, 2025 | United StatesUnited States: DHS Announces Termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haiti
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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

Get in touch

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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 2026

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 21, 2025 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 2026 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

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
More related insights

Sophia’s insights

August 21, 2025 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 2026 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

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
More related insights

Sophia’s insights

August 21, 2025 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 2026 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

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
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 21, 2025 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 2026 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

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
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Share

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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 21, 2025 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 2026 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

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
More related insights

Share

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  • 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 21, 2025 | Awards

Fragomen Attorneys Recognized in the 2026 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America™Read more

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
More related insights

Share

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Explore more at Fragomen

Video

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Blog post

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Partner Louise Haycock notes that the UK’s new fast-track residency route for high earners could affect how businesses plan for immigration costs.

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Senior Manager Zaur Gasimov outlines Georgia’s stricter residence-permit requirements and enhanced monitoring measures introduced under the country’s 2025 immigration reforms.

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Partner Karolina Schiffter explains why Poland has paused online residence permit bookings and returned to paper-based submissions.

Learn more

Blog post

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Senior Manager Ana Bessa Santos outlines Switzerland’s 2026 immigration quotas and what employers should expect across non-EU/EFTA, EU/EFTA and UK permit categories.

Learn more

Blog post

UAE Updates Residency Rules to Support Residents Following Marital Status Changes

Manager Ruaida Hussein outlines the UAE’s updated residency rules introducing a one-year residence permit for eligible individuals following divorce or the death of a spouse

Learn more

Blog post

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Partner Rahul Soni outlines USCIS’ decision to reduce EB-5 filing fees following a federal court ruling that invalidates the agency’s 2024 fee increases.

Learn more

Media mentions

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Manager Clara Gautrais and Immigration Paralegal Sean Pearce highlight how the UK government’s consultation on expanding right to work checks could affect construction employers.

Learn more

Awards

China Managing Partner Becky Xia Named Among the "Top 100 Most Influential Chinese Elites for 2025" by Forbes China

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Learn more

Awards

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Blog post

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Learn more

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