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Heather L. Frayre

Member
El Paso
Heather Frayre’s immigration practice primarily involves matters tied to the recruitment, hire, transfer, and retention of international workers. She counsels corporate and individual clients on a full range of immigration matters including non-immigrant visas, permanent residency, and citizenship as well as issues tied to worksite compliance. She routinely handles matters with a number of different government agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Labor, and the Department of State.

Heather has extensive experience with a wide range of non-immigrant classifications, such as H-1B, H-2B, L-1, TN, J-1, E, O, and P, among others. She also is well-versed in issues relating to employment-based and merit-based petitions, including PERM labor certifications, multinational manager petitions, extraordinary ability and outstanding professor and researcher petitions, and national interest waivers. In addition, Heather has experience with family-based petitions, removal, and special immigration programs such as TPS and VAWA.

Heather’s corporate immigration experience spans a wide array of industries, including technology, athletics, manufacturing, construction, education and international trade. She has counseled large Fortune 500 companies, mid-sized companies and small business clients with immigration filings, consular and cross-border issues and compliance strategies. Heather also works with individual scholars and athletes filing self-petitions, such as extraordinary ability and national interest waiver cases. While the bulk of Heather’s professional experience has been gained in the corporate setting, she began her career in nonprofit, primarily assisting refugees, victims of human trafficking and other crime victims in obtaining status or permanent residency.

Education & Credentials

Education

University of Houston Law Center

J.D., 2011

University of Kansas

B.A., Spanish Minor in History, 2004
  • with distinction

Bar Admission

  • Texas

Spoken Languages

  • Spanish

Areas Of Practice

Immigration

Acknowledgements

  • Who’s Who Legal Corporate Immigration 2024, “Recommended,” 2024
  • Best Lawyers in America®
    • "Ones to Watch," Immigration, 2022-2025
  • Texas Super Lawyers®
    • "Rising Star," Immigration, 2020-2022
  • Chambers USA: Americas Leading Lawyers for Business
    • Individual Ranking Band 3, Immigration, 2020-2024 
    • Texas Immigration, 2019-2020, 2020-2024
    • Individual Ranking Recognized Practitioner, Immigration, 2019-2023
  • Fittest Lawyer in Dallas
    • Fit Company, Influential Leader, 2014

Prominent Assignments

  • Represented and advised one of the world’s largest and most influential technology companies with immigration matters and oversaw the filing of applications/petitions with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Labor, and Department of State for one of its most important product areas.
  • Successfully won motions to reopen and appeals to the Administrative Appeals Office.
  • Routinely counsels and advises small and mid-size clients regarding the transfer of employees from abroad and hiring nonimmigrant students and workers within the United States, including navigating tricky compliance issues.
  • Represented a school district with a high PERM audit rate due to past compliance issues through several successful labor certification recruitment efforts.
  • Represented a non-profit in overcoming a motion of intent to revoke for an H-1B petition due to a referral from the Department of State, alleging post-review of a visa application that the employer had not met its required wage obligation.  

Professional Involvement

  • American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), 2012 – present
  • AILA Texas Service Center Liaison Committee, 2015-2016
  • AILA Department of Labor Liaison Committee, 2019-2020

Publications/Presentations

Presentations

  • Panelist, "EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) Advanced Topics-Avoiding Pitfalls and Solidifying Strategy," AILA South Florida Conference, Miami, Florida, February 2024

  • Panelist, "Right on the Money: Wage Issues and Processing Updates," AILA Texas Chapter Spring Conference, Austin, Texas, March 2023

  • Panelist, "PERM Labor Certification Updates," UT Law CLE, 46th Annual Conference on Immigration and Nationality Law, September 2022

  • Surviving the H-2B Obstacle Course (DOL, SWA, USCIS, and DOS),” AILA PERM/H-2B Practice Conference, Seattle, WA, August 18-19, 2017

  • “Ls, Es, and the Multinational Manager,” AILA Texas Chapter Spring Conference, Austin, Texas, April 16, 2016

  • “Are You a Government Contractor and Don’t Know It?” CLE Labor and Employment Workshop – Dallas, March 26, 2015

  • “Immigration 101,” Dallas Area Paralegal Association Monthly Meeting, Presenter Heather Frayre, July 8, 2014

  • “SB1070: A Debate,” SMU Dedman School of Law, Guest Debater Heather Frayre, November 1, 2011

  • “Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Court,” UT Arlington, Panelist, Heather Frayre, September 1, 2011

Publications

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