Raymond G. Lahoud

Raymond G. Lahoud, Chair of the firm’s Immigration Law Practice, focuses exclusively on the area of immigration law and deportation defense for individuals, families, small to large domestic and multinational businesses and corporations, employers, international employees, investors, students, professors, researchers, skilled professionals, athletes, and entertainers, in every type of immigration or deportation defense matter—whether domestic or foreign.  While Ray’s immigration practice is global in reach, with service to individuals and organizations across the United States and beyond, he is located primarily at the firm’s three globally-linked offices: New York, New York; Bridgewater, New Jersey; and Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Ray’s immigration practice is broad, ranging from areas of corporate and employment immigration and related compliance to immigration litigation before agencies and courts across the United States, for corporations and individuals alike.  His experience includes immigrant and non-immigrant visas, visa overstays, immigrants who entered without inspection or authorization, EB-5 investor visas (serving investors, regional centers, and project developers), citizenship and naturalization claims, deportation and removal litigation at the immigration court and all appellate levels, E Visas, E-3 Visas, H-1B Visas, H-2B Visas, L Visas, O Visas, P Visas, Q Visas, R Visas, TN Visas, Exceptional Ability Immigrant Visas, Extraordinary Ability Immigrant Visas, Physician and Nursing Visas, K-1 Visas, K-3 Visas, Multinational Manager/Executive Immigrant Visas, Outstanding Professor/Researcher Immigrant Visas, PERM Labor Certification, Family Petitions, Adjustment of Status, Marriage Petitions, Asylum, VAWA applications, and Immigration Waivers, such as the Visa Waiver Program, National Interest Waivers, Hardship Waivers, and J Waivers.

Ray’s corporate immigration practice includes representing businesses of all sizes, in all corporate immigration and employer immigration compliance matters.  He has served nearly every industry, including healthcare, education (community colleges, colleges, universities, students, professors, and researchers), manufacturing, global and domestic employment/talent recruitment, warehousing and distribution, pharmaceutical, economic development, local, county, and state government agencies, non-profit, religious, real estate development and EB-5 investor financing, information technology, marketing, entertainment, and sports.  Ray’s corporate immigration and employer immigration compliance practice includes all non-immigrant and immigrant visas, recruitment of international talent and students, and consular processing, as well as Form I-9 and Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division compliance.  Further, he has litigated corporate immigration matters before the Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division, the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative bodies and agencies, the State Department, the United States Court of Appeals for International Trade, the Customs & Border Protection review board, and federal appellate courts—seeking review of employer immigration compliance and other immigrant and non-immigrant visa issues.

Ray’s immigration litigation practice includes deportation defense of thousands of individuals, at the Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the Administrative Appeals Office, and federal district and circuit courts.  In state and federal trial and appellate courts, he seeks post-conviction relief for the underlying crime that led to the removal proceedings, and serves as immigration counsel to non-citizens accused of removable crimes.  Ray’s ability to understand each interaction of criminal law with immigration law has made him a leading expert on issues of “crimigration” before state and federal courts reviewing post-conviction relief claims.

As Chair of the Immigration Practice Group, Ray oversees a leading team of immigration attorneys, immigration review compliance experts, employer immigration auditors, and paralegals and legal assistants with extensive and continuing immigration law training and significant practice experience.

Ray has received numerous accolades.  He has been awarded the Empire State Pro Bono Counsel Award each year since 2012, has been selected as Lead Counsel, received the Martindale-Hubbell Platinum Client Champion Award, and has been named a Super Lawyers Rising Star, ranked as a Top Rated Immigration Attorney in the New York Metro Area.  EB5 Investors, the leading online portal, conference series, and magazine for investors, developers, and EB-5 professionals, has named Ray one of the “Top 5 Rising Stars” nationally.  He was also named one of the 40 young professionals from the Greater Lehigh Valley as the Lehigh Valley Business 2017 Forty Under 40 for his commitment to business growth, professional excellence, and the community.

In law school, Ray earned Dean’s List, received CALI awards in many courses, and worked on the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal.  He was actively involved in additional programs and other organizations including the Barristers’ Counsel, ABA Law Student Division, ACLU at GULC, Catholic Student Association, and the Innocence Project, and worked for the Honorable Joanne Seybert, Federal District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York.

At Lehigh, Ray was Editor of The Lehigh Review, earned Dean’s List, was named a President’s Scholar, was inducted into Phi Beta Delta, and received, among other awards, the Williams Award, Treen Scholarship, and Littner Scholarship.

He served as a United States Congressional Page under then-Congressman Ray LaHood (R-IL), and was a legislative aide to State Senator Lisa Boscola (D-PA).