Melissa K. Allchin

Melissa provides counseling to employers across industries - manufacturing, finance, IT, and consumer goods - to assist with the management of their global and US immigration portfolios. She advises clients on a wide range of immigration and mobility issues, from high-level strategic discussions on company sponsorship policies to day-to-day guidance on immigration rules and requirements in the US and around the world. Melissa approaches the movement of talent holistically, looking beyond immigration issues to spot and address the relevant employment, tax, and data privacy concerns that may impact the management of a global workforce. Melissa also serves as trusted counsel to employers seeking guidance on Form I-9 compliance as a result of internal audits or in response to government inspections by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

• Managed the US and global immigration portfolios of 10+ multinationals that span more than fifty jurisdictions, advising on all employment-based US nonimmigrant and immigrant visa types, developing strategies to ensure US continuous work authorization, and identifying potential immigration strategies in jurisdictions outside of the United States,
• Advised clients in the IT, service, and manufacturing industries on internal Form I-9 audits, tailored remediation plans to mitigate potential civil exposure, conducted bespoke training sessions for HR professionals, and developed and implemented internal compliance project plans.
• Represented a client in the manufacturing industry in an ICE Form I-9 audit for its more than 150 employees, navigating the complexity of compliance with federal employment eligibility requirements and California state law.
• Advised rapidly expanding domestic IT clients on immigration considerations in advance of the establishment of new entities that led to the deployment of key executives, managers, and specialists to set up operations in new jurisdictions such as the US and emerging markets in Asia and Africa.
• Developed and implemented cross-practice compliance surveys for a global manufacturing company to identify potential areas of risk, which resulted in tailored training sessions on immigration-related compliance concerns aimed at key business leaders.
• Authored a global mobility focused questionnaire for common scenarios related to business travel of foreign nationals into the United States to help an expanding US-based manufacturing company educate their foreign national employees on immigration considerations and guidelines for business travel.
• Provided macro and micro level insights and global forecasting to a fortune 500 global manufacturing company in order to help the company effectively and proactively manage their population of more than 200 active assignees throughout the world.

• American Immigration Lawyers Association
• Chicago Bar Association
• American Bar Association

• Pro Bono Committee - Member
• Diversity Committee - Member