Meet the Team: Rachel Slomski.

CH: Thanks for being here, Ms. Slomski. To start, could you tell us a bit more about yourself and why you decided to become an attorney???

RS: I am originally from the state of Michigan and I went to law school in Chicago. I practiced there when I was first an attorney. Now, I live in the state of California because my husband is in the US military, so we move a lot. I essentially wanted to be an attorney because I wanted to help people. It was ever since I was a child, everyone always asks little kids: “what do you want to be when you grow up?” and I always said, I want to be a lawyer. That was because everyone always told me I'd be a good lawyer because I'd like to argue a lot. But as I got older, the reasons changed. I realized I feel like I've had a lot of advantages in my life, and I just want to help people who might not have it or who just might need help.?

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

RS: I didn't start in immigration law, actually. I've kind of had my hand in a lot of different areas of law, including criminal law. But essentially, I had a lot of friends who were immigration attorneys and also who were immigrants themselves. I grew up in a really small town and I didn't really know a lot of people with different backgrounds than myself, but then, I moved to Chicago for law school, and I was just able to meet so many people from different countries and different cultures talking to them about their experiences really made me interested in this area of law. And now, I've been an immigration attorney for several years.?

CH: Let's discuss one of your recent EB-2 NIW approvals. Can you please tell me about the case??

RS: This is a client who's from the country of Colombia, and this client had experience in the Construction Industry. The endeavor for his case was actually to use new and innovative computer tools and technology in construction companies. So construction has been around forever, ever since we've built anything. But there's always ways you can apply new technology to it and kind of adapt. And I thought that was a really interesting endeavor when you think about building houses. Well, how much can that really change? But there's a lot of ways you can change and do things differently as technology advances.??

CH: What were the challenges faced in the development of the case???

RS: So, this case had already been developed and filed, and then it received an RFE. And I think the biggest challenge there was this RFE challenged all three prongs. So for an NIW, there's different steps you have to go through to approve it. So there's step one, step two, step three, we call them prongs. And I think it can be really intimidating when you get an RFE that just wants more evidence for everything. You think, did I do something wrong? and that's not the case, but it can be challenging and intimidating for the client to see something like that, so, that can be a challenge as an attorney to try and assure them you still have a good case, we just have to answer this RFE now.??

CH: And what strategies were used to resolve this challenge???

RS: Our strategy was, first of all to maintain it's a good case. We already filed information about this and evidence about this. But at the same time, it's important to provide new evidence. So, in this instance, we were able to provide a detailed description of the proposed endeavor, going into more details and a business plan to show. So, I think in this case it was really effective to be able to not only double down on the evidence we already had and emphasize how strong that is but give new evidence because the officer did ask for new evidence.?

CH: How was the interaction with the client during the process???

RS: It was really smooth. When we get RFE, we always have a meeting just to talk to the client, just to meet with them. Since I wasn't the attorney who did the initial filing, I didn't know this client, and I can read the case and get to know the client a little bit. But meeting face to face like this is always nice and this client was very dedicated to his case. Sometimes, like I said, getting an RFE like this can be intimidating but this client was very dedicated, very communicative.??

CH: And how did the client react to the outcome of the case???

RS: So sometimes we find out first that the case is approved and we get to share it. Sometimes the clients find out first, they're checking the status every day. This is a case where he found out before we did, and he was so excited just to be able to share with us that the case was approved.??

CH: Why was this case important to you???

RS: Of course, every case is important, and we want to get every case approved. But I really felt drawn to this endeavor. Like I said, I thought it was really interesting. You can look at it from a couple of different approaches when it comes to emphasizing on affordable housing, which is something I really care about, that it's important that people have homes, especially people who might not be able to afford it. And then also the new technology stuff. Like I said earlier, I learned so much in this job, just about all kinds of different fields. So, I really like this case for that aspect and that it taught me something.??

CH: What is your favorite part of being an immigration attorney???

RS: My favorite part in general about being an immigration attorney is just like I said, meeting people from different backgrounds, different experiences, hearing all the, you know, the different fields they work in. And at Colombo & Hurd, I just think we have a group of great people, both my coworkers and my clients. I just really enjoy working with everyone.???

CH: When you're not helping your clients obtain their green cards, what do you like to do in your free time??

RS: I love being outside. I love hiking and exploring, like going to different national parks that are around here. And I also really enjoy art. I like to paint and I like to cook. ?

CH: Thank you for sharing your insights and the case with us!?