Meet the Team: Nicolás Vargas.

An Immigration Attorney's Journey

CH: Thanks for joining us today, Nick. Could you start by giving me a little bit of general information about yourself???

NV: My name is Nicolas Vargas, I'm a lawyer at Colombo & Hurd, I've been working here in the office for over 2 years now. I was born in Bogota, Colombia and when I was 8 years old my family and I moved to the United States. I studied Political Science, and then I studied Law and I have been a lawyer for 7 years now, in the first half of my career I focused on Criminal Law, I was a prosecutor in New York where I took very serious cases and after 4 years working there I realized that I wanted to continue helping people but that I wanted it out of the criminal context, So I decided to practice immigration law and had the opportunity to come to Colombo & Hurd and work here.?

CH: Why did you decide to become a lawyer???

NV: I decided to study law because I knew it was a tool that was going to help me help people, which was what I've always wanted to do, is to work with people and help them, that's why I worked as a prosecutor.?

CH: Why did you decide to work in the field of immigration???

NV: I decided to practice immigration law to continue helping different people and families who want a future like what my parents did when they moved here, so for me this has been a very personal process and I really like helping different families from all over the world.?

A memorable case

CH: Now of course we are also here to talk about one of your recent EB-2 NIW approvals, could you tell us a bit about your client???

NV: She was a Colombian social worker and she was here in the U.S. on a tourist visa and after being here for a few months, she decided that the best thing for her family was to stay and find a legal way to do that, so she talked to other attorneys who had told her she didn't have an EB-2 NIW case. Then she found our office and we analyzed her profile, and we realized that it was a viable case and we decided to work with her, guide her and help her in this process.??

CH: What were the challenges you faced in filing???

NV: We didn't have a lot of time to present the case, we had about two months to work with her and put the case together and another complicated thing in this case is that the client didn't have a lot of confidence, she was very nervous and she wasn't very aware of the accomplishments she had and her skills, it was difficult to explain to her that we believed in her, that we wanted to help her, as other attorneys had told her that she did not have an EB-2 case because she was a social worker, and not someone in the STEM field.?

CH: How did you overcome those challenges???

NV: It was a very human strategy of explaining to her who we were, that we are also immigrants who know the problems that she has as a person who has just moved to the United States and we were here to guide her. So, using that human strategy we were able to convince her that if she had a viable case, that she had a strong profile and could trust us to accompany her through the process.??

CH: What was the client's reaction when they found out about the approval of the case???

NV: We called her and she couldn't believe it, she was crying with happiness and she was so grateful to us and the work we did.??

CH: Finally, why was this case so important to you???

NV: It was meaningful to me because when we had the first meeting it reminded me a lot of my aunt, we are also both from Bogota Colombia, so I saw part of my story in her and it was something personal.??

Personal Insights

CH: What is your favorite part about being part of this law firm???

NV: What I like most about being an attorney at Colombo & Hurd is the people, the whole team believes in the mission of our office, which is to help immigrants, so people are very motivated and it's not an environment of competition, it's an environment of collaboration and support. So, what I like the most, obviously is helping clients, but also what I like the most about Colombo and Hurd is the team and the mission that we have.??

CH: What do you like to do in your free time when you're not helping your clients get their green cards???

NV: I like to go for walks, I live in New York, so it's a city where we can walk a lot and I love to go in the mornings and evenings. I also like to eat and play tennis.?

CH: Anything else you'd like to tell us???

NV: That everything is achieved through teamwork, and in my opinion, we have an extremely talented, motivated team that wants the best for our clients.?

CH: Your story and insights are truly appreciated, Nick. Thank you.