Employer Green Card Filings After the May 2026 USCIS Discretion Memo

Melissa Vasquez-Myers, Partner | Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP

Melissa Vasquez-Myers is a Partner in the Los Angeles office of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP, where she counsels clients across all areas of corporate immigration, with a primary focus on EB-1 employment-based immigrant visas and permanent residence applications. Before joining Fragomen, she practiced with a California-based law firm handling family-based immigration matters and removal defense, and she earlier served as a law clerk in Fragomen’s Los Angeles office, assisting with all major employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant visa categories. During law school, she worked with the Joseph A. Vail Center for Immigrant Rights. She speaks Spanish and English.

• Education & Credentials

Melissa earned her J.D., cum laude, from Southwestern University School of Law in 2014 and her B.A. from Grinnell College in 2012. She is admitted to the California Bar, with practice limited to federal immigration and nationality law.

• Recognition & Leadership

Melissa has been named to Best Lawyers in America: Ones to Watch each year from 2021 to 2026.

• Professional Involvement

Melissa is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Latina Lawyers Bar Association, and the Mexican American Bar Association. She presented at Fragomen’s Immigration Breakfast Briefing in Los Angeles on March 5, 2025.

• Experience

Melissa has represented clients before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Her work has included preparing applications across a variety of immigrant and nonimmigrant matters, drafting responses to requests for evidence, and representing individuals seeking naturalization, asylum, cancellation of removal, and U-Visas, including appearances at master calendar and individual hearings.

Nigel D. James, Attorney | Klasko Immigration Law Partners

Nigel D. James is an Associate in the Philadelphia office of Klasko Immigration Law Partners, where he handles employment-based and family-based immigration matters for corporate and individual clients and serves on the firm’s EB-1 team. His path to immigration practice began in law school, where he assisted noncitizen farmworkers, and was shaped by the experiences of family members and friends who immigrated to the United States. His practice also draws on a background and interest in science, including microbiology and sustainability topics involving environmental systems and energy technologies.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. James earned his J.D. from the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law in 2019 and his B.A. in Biological Sciences from Clemson University in 2016. He is admitted to practice in New Jersey. He speaks Spanish and conversational Portuguese.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. James served as Co-Chair of the New Members Division Committee of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association from 2021 to 2023, and as Co-Chair of the chapter’s Advocacy and Social Media Committee from 2020 to 2021. During law school, he was Managing Editor of Technology for the Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal, President of the Labor & Employment Law Society, and a member of the Executive Board of the Villanova Black Law Students Association.

• Professional Involvement

Mr. James is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the New Jersey State Bar Association, and the Garden State Bar Association. He is a frequent speaker on immigration topics, presenting at AILA Philadelphia CLE conferences, Klasko seminar and webinar series, and universities including Princeton, Penn State, Temple, Rutgers, and Vanderbilt, on subjects ranging from EB-1 and national interest waiver strategy to H-1B cap planning for startups and visa options for students and postdocs.

• Experience

Mr. James has significant experience guiding skilled professionals through the green card process, including petitions for extraordinary ability (EB-1A), outstanding researchers and professors (EB-1B), and national interest waiver (EB-2 NIW) classification, and he assists corporate clients with O-1 nonimmigrant petitions for individuals of extraordinary ability. Before joining Klasko Immigration Law Partners, he practiced at a boutique immigration law firm in Philadelphia, advising on family-based and employmentbased matters including H-1B and L-1 applications, labor certifications, national interest waivers, and complex requests from the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). His experience also includes removal defense before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), T visas for victims of labor and sex trafficking, naturalization, and humanitarian matters. In law school, he served as a Certified Legal Intern for Villanova’s Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic, assisting noncitizen farmworkers in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

SESSION 1 – Building the Discretionary Record on Employment-Based Adjustment Applications | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Join us for a practical CLE on the May 2026 USCIS Discretion Memo (PM-602-0199), which reframes adjustment of status as a discretionary determination requiring a totality-of-the-circumstances analysis rather than a purely eligibility-based assessment. The session will highlight what has changed—and what has not—before walking through key risk factors now drawing heightened scrutiny, including status violations, intent issues, and broader immigration history. We will explore emerging legal tensions, including the interaction with INA §245(k), and introduce a tiered strategy for AOS case preparation based on nonimmigrant status and overall risk profile. Attendees will also learn how to proactively build a strong record of positive discretionary factors and prepare clients for evolving interview expectations. We will conclude with a snapshot of adjudication trends and practical takeaways based on field observations in the first 90 days following implementation.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Responding to Heightened Scrutiny and Pivoting Workforce Immigration Strategy | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

This session addresses how employer-side immigration counsel responds to the heightened adjudicatory environment triggered by USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 across the full petition lifecycle — PERM, I-140, H-1B/L-1 extensions, and consular processing decisions. Attorneys will learn how to assess risk exposure by visa classification, strengthen petitions proactively against escalating RFE and denial trends, and evaluate whether adjustment of status or consular processing better serves each employee’s situation. The session equips practitioners with a strategic framework for recalibrating employer immigration programs in light of shifting adjudication standards, pending litigation, and regulatory changes affecting the H-1B pipeline.