We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angela Torregoza a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Angela, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

An Ecuadorian-American family approached me for help. Their sister living in Ecuador, was petitioned by their mother, a U.S. citizen, who unfortunately, passed away while the sister was in the process of immigrating to the United States to be reunited with the family. When a petitioner dies, the petition also “dies” and the approved immigrant petition initially allowing the sister to immigrate to the United States, was revoked by operation of law. The family sought my help to allow the sister to continue with the process despite the mother’s death.

Fortunately, immigration law allows for the petition to be reinstated if a substitute sponsor with a qualifying relationship can stand in the place of the original petitioner. In this case, one of the U.S. citizen sisters was able to step in as the new sponsor for her sister’s case. This process, called Humanitarian Reinstatement, is a discretionary application, which is rarely approved and only in unique cases where a favorable exercise of discretion is warranted.

We were able to successfully advocate for the sisters and their family and our humanitarian reinstatement application was granted. The sister was able to complete the consular interview and processing, allowing her to immigrate to the United States to be with her family who are all U.S. citizens.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

25 years ago, my siblings and I packed up our life in the Philippines and moved to the city of dreams, New York City. We left behind our grandma who raised us while our parents, who like so many other immigrants (known in the Philippines as OFW – overseas Filipino workers) worked far away from their children hoping to give us a better future.

Our mother who was an educator, was the beneficiary of an employment-based petition allowing her to relocate her family to the U.S. and obtain permanent residence. Because of her courage, perseverance and sacrifices, we were able to reach for our dreams and achieve our goals.

Now, in my work as an immigration attorney, I feel privileged to be able to do the same and help U.S. citizens and permanent residents obtain permanent residence for their relatives, as well as help individuals in the same situation as my mother get work visas allowing them to live and work in the United States. I founded LegalEase.us with the goal of making law accessible and easy to understand, doing away with legal jargon which serves as a barrier to some clients, especially if English is their second language. With my work, I want to empower my clients and ensure that they are informed and educated as they reach for their American Dream.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

Recently, I have found that attending networking events have been a great source of new clients for me. Networking has also allowed me to refine and concisely define my brand and what I have to offer. It has also allowed me to connect with other business owners, entrepreneurs and other professionals whom have been great sources of referrals, but have also become invaluable resources and trusted colleagues.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I have found that newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with clients and update them about changes in immigration policies, our recent success stories and foster brand loyalty. We also send individualized emails to remind clients about important dates and milestones to help ensure their success. Most recently, we have been writing about immigration on platforms such as Medium, with my most recent article spreading some hope and optimism about the upcoming second Trump term: https://medium.com/@venusinorbit/immigrants-make-america-great-hope-and-optimism-as-we-welcome-trump-2-0-4704a6571e52.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://legalease.us/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legaleaseus/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/legaleaseus/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/legalease.us/
• Twitter: http://x.com/legaleasenyc
• Other: Avvo: https://www.avvo.com/attorneys/10001-ny-angela-torregoza-4532937.html
  Medium Article: https://medium.com/@venusinorbit/immigrants-make-america-great-hope-and-optimism-as-we-welcome-trump-2-0-4704a6571e52

Image Credits

Portrait by Great Image Photo.
Shen Yun photos by NTD News.
CUNY photo by CUNY Alumni Office.
Empire State Building photo by RF.